Phase 2.95

So,we decided to just add another row of bricks.Not another row of block(cheaper that way-we're all about cheap!),and larger gravel.Gave it a work out this evening.We still need to order the mesh spark screen,but that will wait until after the holidays. And one of the flamingo's,on the Cantina,says,"MERRY CHRISTMAS."

Phase 2.5

This is where we are now.Well,actually,Jon is taking a nap,after hauling the blocks and bags of gravel to the back.........Hey!I bought 'em,got 'em in the truck,and brought 'em home.The least he can do is haul them to the back. It has been decided(a mutual decision,too,I might add) that the wall behind the fire bowl shall go up another row.We will wait to see what that looks like,before we decide if it should go up any higher. And it needs more of the larger gravel towards the back.
Still working on getting a fire screen.Gonna go on a "mission from God" tomorrow.....

Stay tuned...........................

Here We Go Again.....

I should say "I" instead of we....
So,I get this hair up you-know-where,and decide to take out that garden that we had put int.Don't worry,all those plants were carefully relocated,elsewhere.
All this,just because I think it would look better with a fire-pit there.
Erich,the Younger,had given this to me as a birthday present a few years back.I think he got a deal on it bacause it didn't come with a spark screen.It's the thought that counts,right?
But I digress......
Soooo,this is what it looks like for right now.We(I) need to raise the Great Wall up another row or two(probably one row)and fill it in with gravel.

I also need to get a spark screen.I found a really neat one on the Internet.Must get on that......

to be continued..............................

Out,Out Damn Tree!!

So,we had this big-ass Washingtonian Palm(note to whomever-NEVER,EVER plant one!)that was leaning dangerously close to the house and needed to come out.Actually,it was taller than the house.
So,we called the bestest tree service ever(Independent Tree Service-they work all over the west coast of Florida).

This is the big-ass palm.
A close fit.But the driver was spot-on.

After they pulled the bucket truck in(they had to remove our brand new fence--ewwwww.But they replaced it,too.Insert clappy smiley here).

He's in there somewhere.....Afterwards,he said there were snakes and rats in there!

There goes the top!

Oooops...but they cleaned it all up.

Next level going down.

And another level.Told ya it was a big-ass palm.

Timber!!!!!!

These guys did a heck of a job.Cleaned everything up.Hauled it all away.Raked the yard.They even cleaned the pool!

What is gonna go there,you ask?Why one of the contraband plumeria,of course......

Sunbathing Frog

For those of you(and you know who you are!) who refuse to wear your reading glasses,I decided to enlarge and label the picture,just so you could enjoy viewing the sunbathing frog.

The Great Rock Climbing Wall of Lutz

We added some rocks to the edge of the deep end of the pool(AKA Juan's WaterWorld).Mainly for for aesthetics.Not good for anything else,unless your a crab(see http://hermietcrabbe.blogspot.com/ ).
Yep-that's a sun bathing frog there.

Life Is Good!!!

How can a person beat this?A can of Bud,a super soaker and a boat,while floating around in a pool that's at the perfect temperature.84*

For those who have asked what the Ringy-Ding game is,here's Jon fine tuning his.The object is to get the ring on the hook.It's a great game for men to play while drinking copious amounts of beer.And provides great laughter for women to watch them.

The "Mini-Me" Wall

We had some issues with water drainage on the north side of the pool,that really needed to be addressed.So,we built a mini-me wall!
The pathway you see goes from the master bedroom down to the pool equipment,or to the pool.Someday(hopefully sooner than later) there will be doors from the bedroom out to the pool.The window opening that's there now is meant for 6' sliding glass doors,so it should just be a matter of taking one out and popping one in.R-i-g-h-t............
But then,what home project goes exactly just as planned?There are those so called bumps in the road that just make you wanna live in an apartment.....................

And we're still "discussing" where the smoker and turkey fryer should go.Grrrrr..................

IT'S DONE !!!!!!

Kinda-sorta.It still needs some finishing touches.As in bleaching all the mildew and dirt out of the pavers,etc.The pool deck needs bleaching/washing,too.Hopefully,that will happen tomorrow.

A view from the back gate.Notice we(I should say "I") haven't found a place for the smoker and the turkey fryer.That is still being discussed around here.

View from the back door.

The piece de resistance.

I love this little garden!! Of course,I just had to have a new flamingo for this spot.

I think I need to get some begonias or something like that to go in it.Plus,I'm thinking the annuals could change with the seasons.

Please take note of the yard-art shells(I do love yard-art!).Shout out to Dale (AKA TurtleTrax) for the yard-art horse conch.Guess we owe you something for your Great Border of Clairmont,now.

Now,on to the next project............................................

Come On In-The Water's fine!

Juan's WaterWorld is now open!!!

The bumperboats are in!Gotta work on the water guns,now! And Jon's Ringy-Ding Game should be back in service tomorrow.

Closing in on that Grand Re-Opening!!! W00t!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh yeah-between rain showers,we managed to get in two more rows of pavers,on the Great Wall of Lutz.Only two more rows to go!

The table/umbrella have now been moved over to the Great Wall.Next week-end should be the grand finale'.(if the weather stays with us,puh-leeze!)Just in time for the grand re-opening of Juan's Poolside Cantina.

Rain,Rain Go Away......

With all good intentions,got up early this morning to resume work on the Great Wall,but we were met with cloudy skies which gave way to thunderstoms,that have continued all day.And possibly into tomorrow.Ack!!!!!
I guess God,or the Cosmic Muffin,or whatever you want to call her,decided we needed a day of rest.
But we're soooo close to the end!!

This is where we are now.

The SkateBoard Park is no more.Quiet your tears people.You'll get over it.
It has now become Juan's WaterWorld.
This is it being filled last evening.

And here it is today!!!!

Notice the rain drops.Grrrr...................Actually,(knocking on wood,fingers and toes crossed as I write this),we think our repairs worked.It seems they worked well enough,that with all the rain we've had today,Jon had to pump water out of the pool!Who'd have ever thunk that?!


Hopefully(good Lord willing and the creek don't rise!),the BumperBoat Ride and the WaterGuns will be operational tomorrow.We're planning on having the grand re-opening of Juan's Poolside Cantina,on the 4th of July.

Fill 'er Up!

Here we go......filling it up.
We're only gonna go halfway,then see if this is gonna work.Yep the water looks a little funky,right now.That's well water for ya.Once,it's full,the water will be tested,balanced,and get whatever it needs.




With any luck,the next picture you'll see will be of a pool filled with sparkling,glistening water.

Trying To Find The Right size Screw....

Jon's trying to find the right size screw to go in the hole...........

Comments?I know many come to mind......

Nightmare In Lutz

After a major thunderstorm during the night(when the forecast was for clear skies-ack!!)this is what we woke up to.Jon was up all night monitoring the situation,but realized there was nothing he could do.Thankfully,we had rented the sump pump 'til Monday.



After much pumping,mopping up and fans blowing,this is what we managed to get to.All afternoon,we dodged the bullet with the clouds and thunderstorms.Alot of praying to whomever(thanks Mom!),we stayed dry.So,it's ok if it gets wet,now,tho we would prefer it not to.At least unitl tomorrow,when we hope to start filling.Then we pray it holds water.


And,hopefully,Juan's Poolside Cantina will have it's grand reopening next week-end!

Much thanks to Erich and co. for all the help!(We bought Erich a new gas grill for helping out.....)

Prayers now for it to hold water.Please,please,please.We'll be good people,honest.We won't swear,honest.We won't say bad things about anyone,honest.

And we need to get back to work on the Great Wall of Lutz......

Almost there!

Woo-Hoo!!!! The primer is on,set up, and the SkateBoard Park is covered back up for the night.Even if the skies are clear,we didn't want to take any chances.Paint goes on tomorrow!




Here's Erich finishing up......................

And Jon suprvising..........................

We,hopefully(fingers,toes and any other spare body parts crossed here),should be able to start filling Monday evening.

Oh Crap!!!

The skateBoard Park has now been cleaned,patched,sealed,acid washed,bleached,de-stained,rinsed,dried out,and has now been hurriedly covered.




And this is why...........

We are now under a severe thunderstorm warning and tornado watch! Grrrrrr......................

Needless to say,prayers are being said in Lutz,right now.

Where We Are Now ......

We ran out of dirt and gravel(for the Great Wall),so we continued on with the path to the back of the yard.Where we could we used the broken pavers instead of whole ones.I guess you could say we're going for an eclectic/natural/tropical kinda look. (?)
We need to fill it in with more dirt and more mulch.But the idea is there.
Jon is finally geting the point of where I want to go with this and is in agreement that it looks "pretty good." High compliment coming from him......

We have added more landscape lighting(solar,by the way.Trying to reduce our carbon footprint...).Please excuse the mess in the back.That will be burned(sorry,Al Gore,but it is all natural ingredients)at some future date.

Time to get more fill dirt and gravel.Just wanna get this done!!

A Long,Hot,Sweaty Day..................

I am here to testify.When it's 95+ degrees out,this is hotter than Hell! What were we thinking?!
The SkateBoard Park is all patched(and those patches have set up),been swept out,vacuumed,and ready for pressure washing,tomorrow. Yep-that's Jon sweating his ass(which he doesn't have much of)off.We should own stock in Gatorade,after today.

The Great Wall of Lutz is progressing ever so slowly.Too damn hot to go any faster.The first picture is a view from the back of the mud pit.We're about half-way done.
The gas grill has been moved back.We still have to move the charcoal grill,the smoker and the turkey fryer.Actually,the smoker and turkey fryer may go somewhere else in the yard.They create way too much mess to be on the Great Wall.

From the side.Eventually,the cypress slab(it's a section that we saved from the old front entry-way)will sit on something other than concrete blocks,but this will have to do for now.

We have reached a point where the 2 decks start to meet up,and they're not square,or even on the same level.So,to transition,I came up with the brilliant idea of using blue glass beads to fill in.Sort of continuing on with the beach theme.Blue=water.Get it?

Sooo-wherever it isn't straight,or square,or we have to manuever around something,this will be the effect.(Obviously,we need more blue glass beads,but I think you can get what the effect we're going for.)

Tomorrow,will be the "Attack of the Killer Power Washer."

to be continued........................

Dry At Last,Dry At Last

Thank God Almighty,we're dry at last........(sorry MLK).

Tomorrow is patching day.Hopefully primer/paint can go on Friday.

Sunday-fill day? Time will tell.........................

And So It Goes..............

It has taken 2 days to get this little bit done! Too damn hot to work at it for very long. And we have the cee-ment pond/SkateBoard Park thing going on at the same time.So,it's going kinda slower than we had anticipated.Actually,a lot slower.

We need to rent a sump pump to clear out the rest of the water in the pool,then the patching can begin.That will need to cure for a day or two,then the painting can begin.We also need to get a huge-ass tarp to cover the pool once the painting starts.It is rainy season here in Florida,after all.Not that one would know it around here.We have had absolutely no noticeable rain at all.

With our luck,the summer rains will start in earnest once we start to paint. :-(

Lutz SkateBoard Park

So,now,we have two projects going on at the same time.The Great Wall and the SkateBoard Park.I have a feeling this is gonna be a long,hot summer..............

Jon working on the cracks in the pool.

The man eats like a horse and has absolutely no ass.What's up with that?It just doesn't seem fair somehow..................

Ta-Daa!!!!!

It is with great pleasure and immense relief,we can finally announce that the Great Wall of Lutz has been completed!

Now,will come the hard part.The pavers that we left in place,to walk on,will now have to be moved.Dirt brought in and hauled to the back,gravel brought in and hauled to the back.Then all the pavers moved back.Hopefully everything will be level........

The steps down to the side yard,back gate,etc.

Full length view,from the back of the yard.

Side view.We also started moving the pathway to the back of the yard.It will now be more meandering than a straight shot back.We also added some lighting along the path.Much more to be done on that,at a much later date.....
Since the pool's leak has returned,Jon figured it was time to drain that sucker,fix the cracks,acid wash it,and repaint it.I'm all for turning it into a skateboard park.We could charge admission to see the Great Wall of Lutz,and they could skate board after viewing the The Wall.We could make a fortune,retire early,and hire other people to do these kinds of projects.All the while we could be sitting on our asses drinking something tall,cool,and preferably alcoholic.

The future home of the Lutz SkateBoard Park.

Time to hit the showers and pour something tall and strong..................

Okey-doke

The fishing poles have been moved,as has all of that other crap that was just sitting there,taking up space.More block went in today.Steps have been formed,yada-yada-yada......

Film at 11 and/or pictures tomorow or Sunday....

Back To Work

Yep-After some interruptions(including a trip to Sanibel and a leak in the pool),work has resumed on the Great Wall of Lutz!!Another section has gone in!

Next weekend we should be up to the point of the steps down to the side yard.Also,we should be at the point where Jon will have to move his fishing poles! w00t!!!! Maybe,even actually put them away?
Today,the rake bit the dust,so a new one will have to be purchased.

The plumeria has been moved to a sunnier location and replaced with a small,shade loving palm.Both plants are much happier in their new locations,thankfully.

My Own Bobby Flay!

Nope-didn't work on the Great Wall of Lutz,today(It's on hold 'til we get back from Sanibel).



But Bobby Flay,AKA Jon,AKA Grill Boy, put the new gas grill to work,today.Cooking up some fine ribs.

Geez---he hates to have his picture taken.

Still Haulin' Ass

The Great Wall has been expanded by 4 more rows.We're getting there! w00t!!!

As you can see,we've started piling up the dirt.Started around the plumeria.You might notice,the infamous Rhode Island rock has been included in the landscaping plan.This is the rock Dad got when we we're living in Newport(back in 1971/72),and chiseled Michael's name and the year into it.He and Mom brought it down with them,and I brought it over here when we moved Dad out of the house in St.Pete.

The new steps going down to the back of the yard.Pardon the temporary steps.They will be replaced with something more permanent at a later(much later!)date.

While digging old plants up,this is what I found.A piece/chunk of green glass.A few years back I found a chunk of purple glass about the same size.We don't know if it's/they're from the old days when there were moon-shiners out here,or what.We do know they have found an old still at the top of the hill.Who knows?...................

Sooooo,this is what we accomplished today.We will be taking a break from this for awhile.'Til we get back from vacation.