That feeling of accomplishment when you sit back and observe the reactions of your grandkids enjoying the very thing you hoped they would enjoy – it’s just amazing.
Now that the pond is in and the grass sods have installed, it’s almost time to breathe. Yes, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
But before I can sit and enjoy everything we’ve done, I got to share some thoughts on the things I see as pluses and or minuses and other things to consider when you take on a project like ours.
There are two things you must have, at least here in the states, to be able to do a project of this size. Time and Money.
If you ain’t got no time, then how would you work on a project of this size. If you ain’t got no money, then you may be limited on things you can do. It’s still is doable but in the land of the Free, there’s really nothing ain’t free no more. lol Or are there any?
If you take a look at the waterfall, there are things that I got for free. And that is the important thing. Use all the resources available to you by way of social media to get things for free. Have you check out the Marketplace on Facebook? How about Offerup? Craig’s anyone? Even Nextdoor has a lot of free things and they may be from your neighbors.
It’s safe to say 50% of the materials used on our projects are free. All the big rocks and medium size rocks you see in these pictures we got for free. And lots more you may never see in these pictures because they were buried to support what’s on the ground.
There are four (4) main phases of this whole project. The Deck, the Patio, the Cabin (Study House) and the landscape. Each of these phases we used a lot of free stuff that we found on the FB Marketplace, Offerup or the Nextdoor app. So next time you do a project, look up for free stuff you may need. It can save you lots of cash. And don’t forget to recycle, reuse, and repurpose! Hehehehe.
Time is something you can’t take back but it’s something you can plan for. At least you know there will always be a tomorrow, today and yesterday.
For tomorrow, we must learn from yesterday, apply them to today’s situation with the hope that tomorrow will be much better. I often asked myself if what I am doing is worth something, and I often come to the same conclusion. Everything I do now will be there for my grandkids. We can enjoy them together today and sure hope it will come two-folds for them future gens…
Take your time! Plan your project into different phases so you don’t overwhelm yourself. If you followed our progress, you may wonder why we went in circles. For example, you may have seen that the cabin was completed and yet here we are with a totally different look. It’s by design because we needed space. For example, we don’t have lots of space to store all the good 2×8’s from the old deck so after the demolition of that deck, instead of building a new deck, we stopped and worked on the foundation of the cabin including putting up the walls and roofing before going back and built the new deck.
It’s money too. We don’t have money falling out of the tree so we had to take our time to buy materials we can’t get for free. And in this day and age, in the year of the Gig-Economy, it’s much more easier to go out there and get some serious cash. In an instant, that is!
Every day, I would go out from 3 AM to noon to do Ubering, got paid in minutes and head straight to Home Depot or Lowe’s to spent it all on materials. It’s that easy. Hehehehe. Weekends were the best days to make some serious cash and Sunday afternoons are the best days to buy materials. Not too many people in your way. And when buying materials, be considerate of all other beings and how those things you’re buying may affect them or you.
Here are some things we’ve learned. Racoons are mean! Yes they are. They can destroy your sod grass looking to kill all of your hardworking soil making earth friendly worms. I thought racoons were friendly that I enjoyed seeing one walking right outside the door while I was enjoying the view. Later I found out s/he may be the one that literally folded up the sod grass I installed a couple days earlier.
I wasn’t as friendly to this guy the next time I saw him/her. In fact, I chased her away and have not seen her/him since. It climbed a very tall tree to get as far away from mean me as possible. You can watch the video here.
I originally plan to put Koi fish in my pond but after a few research I found that the same racoon can come back and eat my koi. I must have a deeper pond to have room for my koi to run. So now, I have to dig the pond a little deeper, no less than 2 feet. Don’t be surprise if you see me swimming around the pond. lol.
Just so you know, I think it’s much easier installing the sod grass instead of planting them seeds. I am already planning to use it to replace the front lawn with it.
Hey guys, gotta get back out there again but thank you very much for your patronage. Y’alls take care and stay safe.
