Project progress

Saturday we got a lot of work done, and it's nice to actually see the progress.

Mr M tilled up the spot where we're putting in our garden next spring. There's tons of rocks in the ground here, so he has more work to do still unfortunately.

While he was doing that, I finished clearing the leaves. After raking and bagging 20+ bags of leaves from just a couple trees last year, we decided to take the easy way out and get a leafblower this year. Totally worth the money! I cleared the driveway and parking area Friday and all the grassy areas Saturday. So much quicker (and easier on the body) than raking and bagging. It's nice not to have to get rid of all those bags of leaves- I just blew them into the underbrush and trees that surround the house and lawn- there will be more mulch in the woods come spring.

Side deck, not powerwashed yet 

Mr M was finally able to finish powerwashing the back deck while I stained the side and front porches. We still have to stain the back deck next week. I can see why the previous owners didn't keep the decks clean and sealed- it's a lot of work, and you have to have the time to work on it when the weather is cooperating (which hasn't been the case lately). We can't wait till we can afford to replace the high maintenance wood with low maintenance Trex-type decking.

Side deck, powerwashed and stained

When we re-do the decks we're going to screen in part of the back porch. We had a screened-in back porch at our last house, and it's a lifesaver in the summer. There's so many bugs here that we end up staying inside to avoid them. It'd be nice to be able to spend more time outside.

In the meantime, it feels good to be making progress on the myriad projects that need to be taken care of around the house.  Ahhh, the joys of homeownership :)