With Safer-at-Home orders in place, like so many people we are investing energy that otherwise would be spent traveling on home projects. When we purchased this house, our back”yard” was anything but a “yard”. We live on a hill and the original landscaping was probably lovely, but simply didn’t work for us. We have been working to change the space from something you could look at to something you could use.

Through the winter of 2018 and spring 2019, we had an outdoor fireplace and sod installed which was a dramatic improvement. Next is tackling the unwalkable slope. We have decided to create a set of steps that permit you to safely get to a point where you can hike through the wooded portion of our property. Our local lumber yard is delivering products which enables us to shop by phone and arrange for contact-less delivery.

With good weather in the forecast, we have moved from planning to doing which is keeping two type-A personalities from going stir-crazy.

We had to tap into some middle school math to calculate materials needed. Determining the number of steps? The Rise and run? Dimension of lumber? Depth of each step? We are estimating there will be 33 steps. Lumber ordered. Lumber delivered. Let the Viking Games begin!

Since we can’t get any power equipment into our backyard, everything has to be hand-carried. From the driveway, materials have to be carried up steps over the 5′ high retaining wall. Then carried across the yard and up the slope. But carry he did. 6x6s. Tons of pea gravel. And crazy man that he is – he thoroughly enjoyed it.

Turned out that our step estimate wasn’t too far off. I had estimated 33 steps. There are 31. The next project will be a handrail, but for now, we can enjoy the progress. Progress we may not have made if we were not under Stay-at-Home orders. #silverlining.