My Handy-man Honey!

It is so nice to have a husband who is very handy. My hubby has been taking some time off work this summer and working like crazy to get some unfinished projects left over from the original construction done. So I thought I would document all the hard work he has been doing so you can see what a hard workin' handyman I am married to.
The top picture was his second big project, after getting the lawn in. We started staining the wood beams before the house was even done two Augusts ago, but only stained them about 3/4 of the way up. We finally got back to them this summer. It was several days of really hard labor which included scaffolding to stain the underside of the porch roof. It looks very rustic and finished now.


More of the front porch. Ray tried to strip the old stain off before beginning again, but that was a major undertaking. After spending several days just to do two posts, he just decided to stain over the old stain. I think it turned out fabulous.

His first real project was putting in the front lawn. That project was a killer. We had the whole front yard torn up to put in sprinklers. It looked like a war zone. Our neighbor brought in a small bobcat and did the excavating and dug the trenches. That helped alot. After that, putting down the sod was easy. And ya gotta love sod! So quick, so easy.

The landscaping was a quick project, except for the fact that we couldn't decide what to put in. We have some limitations, like deer. Anything we put in has to be deer proof or it gets eaten up. The dang deer did eat a couple of things, like a couple of day lilies right down to the ground and the leaves off the two weigela. Little stinkers! And besides that, Ray and I are pitiful horticulturists. We have no clue when it comes to landscaping.

This is the project Ray undertook after the beams were stained. After the construction this under eaves deck cover was left with just the bare roof tresses. Not very pretty. Ray got a bid to put in the vinyl in the thousand dollar range and decided he could do this himself. And he did. Out came the scaffolding again and it took several days, but he did it all himself. Isn't he amazing?


Last week it was excavating and grading the back yard in preparation for sod next summer. Our same neighbor (a wonderful 21 yr old guy) came back and drove the big backhoe to get this done. It was three days of morning to dusk digging and earth moving, but we can now get an idea of what the back will look like with sod. I'm not sure if the sprinklers will go in now or early next year. Paul (the neighbor) has already measured and set out the flags for the system. It's going to be a nice place to play with grandkids and enjoy friends and family.
In the far right area will be my garden (fenced with an 8 ft fence. Remember the deer?) To the left of that area will be some kind of play structure for the grandkids and then closer up and the rest of the yard will be lawn. Can't wait for that. Then all the trees will be a great "forest" for the grandkids to explore and imagine in. Good times a comin'!

It is very nice to have such a handy man around. Isn't he amazing? And no, ladies, you can't borrow him. I still have a long honey-do list for the inside. Go get your own!