Building My Patio - Part 2

Corner intersection of the two planters in front of the lattice.  The overlap section is
built up a little higher than the other two legs to be able to add a little height in the corner.

Ok, so, I previously left you waiting breathlessly to hear what happened after I had finished the brick planters on my patio.  Ok, you can take a breath now, I won't keep you in suspense any longer!  (Oh my, you were getting a little blue around your ears!)

Well, after I got those in, I was pretty pleased that they were mostly straight and level!  Definitely a plus after all the work and physical sacrifices to get them in!  It got a little slow going after the loss of the fingertips, but eventually, I did finish!  And I was pretty darn happy with the results!

So, now I turned my attention to the raised area I wanted for my future table and chairs.  I used a rope to define where the edge of that area was going to be and set about filling the area with a little soil and trying to pack it down a bit.  When I had picked up the bull-nosed bricks I wanted for the edging I asked if they would cut each of them in half for me.  Thank goodness they do do that sort of thing!  For a fee, of course!  I would never have been able to cut them myself, so I was at their mercy!  Thank you, thank you!  That particular trip all I was picking up was those bricks, it turned out to be one of the lightest loads I had picked up since starting this project!  I swear the car smiled with relief as we drove away!

Here is a photo of the flagstone and edging just laid out
for placement before I had the planters built.

This go-round with my mortar skills in laying the edging seemed to go much better than it had with the planters!  Once the edging was in and drying, I started laying out the edging for the sides of my patio for real this time.  Previously I had just laid the brick down to get an idea of where everything was going to go.  Now, I had to get serious about getting the bricks down straight and level and I wanted them right on the ground before the sand went down to try to help hold the sand in place.  So, I laid some 2x4s down and held them in place with some shims pounded into the ground every so often and started laying the brick end to end along side them.  I'm sure someone who knows what they are doing would have had an easier solution, but it worked for me . . . eventually!   ;-)   It definitely took me a long while to get what I wanted, but finally, it was ready for me to put the sand down and get the sandstone laid!

So, I get into my handy-dandy delivery vehicle and head off to rent a pick up truck for the sand.  I put a tarp down before they dropped the scoop of sand into the bed.  Thank goodness!  Because let me tell you, by the time I got through with scooping 3/4 ton of sand out of the bed of that thing I was exhausted!  I did not have enough energy to then turn around and wash the darn thing before I returned it, too!  

At the time, I weighed a little bit less than 3/4 ton myself, and in comparison with all that sand, I felt like an ant trying to move a mountain - one grain at a time!  I scooped for what seemed like hours and had ALMOST made a dent in that pile of sand.  I swear, every time I shoveled a bit out, someone backfilled double that amount!  It was a cruel trick!  I stopped for lunch.  I came back out.  And nearly cried!  There was still sooooooo much sand left!  I thought that when I got down to the last little bit I would be able to fold up the sides of the tarp and lift it on out. LOLOL!  That really makes me laugh thinking about that now!  Silly girl!  Sand weighs way more than you might think!  There was NOOOOO way I was ever going to be able to lift any real amount of sand out of that truck!  What a silly coo-coo head I was! ! !  Well, anyway, about 5 years (oooops!  I mean hours) later, I finally finished scooping the sand out and got the truck returned.  Oh, . . . by the way, did I mention that when I had backed the truck in, I couldn't get close enough to scoop the sand directly into the patio area?  :-)  

I'll bet you can guess what comes next!  Yep, I then had to scoop all that sand to where I really wanted it and get it sort of leveled off once there!   (sigh . . . .)  Are you SURE I don't get ANY kind of prize for moving the equivalent of 3,000 pounds of sand all by myself? ? ? ? ?

Ok, so now I have all the sand where I need it.  It is . . . sort of leveled out.  Now I can get the flagstone down.  I had laid it all out before I got the sand down, so I had things pretty much in order where I needed it to go and was able to get most of it in place without toooo much trouble.  But, thank goodness none of the neighbors got any video (that I know of!) of me wrestling with those slabs of stone , some of which I think must have weighed almost as much as I did.  There was one piece in particular that just would NOT cooperate.  It was, of course, the largest, most awkward piece in the bunch.  I must have tried to get it down and level no less than 30 times.  It was so heavy I had an extremely difficult time picking it up and maneuvering it into place.  I would get it down and it wouldn't be level and then I'd have to struggle to get it picked back up.  Then I would get to try to balance it on end with one hand, while trying to smooth the sand back out from where it got dug out from trying to pick it up and fix the leveling issue, all with the other hand.  And all that while trying to keep it from dropping on my toes or fingers or . . . head, for that matter!  Over and over and over again, until it was . . . well, . . . darn close enough.  Meaning, I simply didn't have the strength or energy to keep trying and honestly, truth be told, no one but myself would probably even notice it wasn't perfect.

When I finished that day, I looked around.  And even though I was feeling pretty beat up and exhausted, I had to smile.   

I.   Had.   Done.   It!    

My patio was essentially done!  Well, . . . at least the hard parts were done!  All I had to do now was fill the pond, select the plants, fill the planters with soil and get them planted, and fill in around the flagstone and get those spaces planted!  It was all good!  And then I dragged myself inside, got cleaned up and celebrated with a nice glass of wine and then . . . collapsed.  It's was going to be a    looooong   while before I tackled that long brick planter I had planned for along the driveway! ! !    :-)

Here are a few more pictures another one of the beginning stage of my pond and a close-up  of the blooms from the pond plants and a view of the lattice and my arch!  The baby tears moss did eventually fill in and cover most of the edge of the pond!

And finally,  . . .  time to enjoy the results of my labors!  Decaf Paradise Tropical Sun Tea!  Yummmmmm! ! ! !

Until the next time! ! !  :-)