Increasing Storage and Solving Rain Problem

As always, at the last minute plans were changed today, so I didn't get around to building the composting toilet. It'll have to wait till this weekend. However, we did finish a lot of incomplete projects that have been waiting for an extra day off.

First, though, I want to bring you up to date on the sidewalk project, which is still in the early stages. Due to the unusually high amount of rain we've had the last few years, the backyard has been pretty soupy. Getting the loaded dolly to the chicken yard has been very difficult and is creating ruts in the yard, which look bad. The solution: a sidewalk that runs along the building to the entrance of the chicken yard.



On Monday, we picked up about 600 cement pavers, as shown in the first photo. Tuesday, I unloaded the trailer, stacking them on the driveway within easy reach of proposed path. Took me most of the day and wore me out, but the first phase of the project (collecting materials) is now complete.

I started phase two, preparing the site, today. At the terminus of the sidewalk, we painstakingly moved a large cement pad to the entrance of the chicken yard. I had dug out the area needed ahead of time so that the pad would sit only slightly above the surface to enable the gates to swing over it, but placing the pad still required a lot of heavy lifting.


Notice the two smaller pavers under the gate. They are two of the new ones we got on Monday and fit perfectly in the space. On the other end, I laid out a few blocks to decide which pattern would work the best. We want the path wide enough to move the dolly easily, but not invade the yard too much. I finally figured out the best pattern and laid a few extra along the leg. They fit perfectly as you can see.

The landscaped area against the building will encompass the entire area within the sidewalk when the project is complete. Next step is to finish staking out the site and removing the topsoil. The pavers are only 2 inches thick, so not much needs to be removed.

Also today, we finished building the shed addition. It still needs to be painted and door handles installed, but the construction is complete. We started about two months ago by pulling the shed forward about thirty feet to its present location. After jacking it up and supporting it with concrete blocks and bricks, we repaired the front door and reattached it. Since mom will be using it as a potting shed, I spent a day building shelves along the back wall to put all of her pots on. With that done, dad and I began framing the new tool shed onto the back of the shed.


After a few weekends of work, putting up the walls, then the tin roofing, and finally today the doors, the tool shed is done!

Potting Shed with Stained Glass Window

We also cleared almost everything out of the back building in order to assemble another segment of pallet racking for additional storage. By the time we were done, we were all beat, having worked out in the heat all day. But the place does look a bit better and we have a lot more room in the back building, even if it doesn't look like it.


Tomorrow will be a short work day as we all have other places to be, but I'm hoping to at least get the wood cut for the composting toilet. Stay green!