O’dark thirty in the morning and I’m… well, maybe “awake” is an exaggeration, but I’m not asleep either.
Yesterday we were up early and did a 100+ miles round-trip out to the house. Took our first load of boxes out and dropped them off, then the day started.
Remember when I first talked about the earlier-than-planned move to the house, G was grumpy about the prospect? He’d become resigned to the idea, but still a bit grumpy.
As of this weekend, the last stubborn dredges of grouchiness went poof.
A little ways down the road from the house, we priced out a big 10’x20′ box for his new workshop. Due to the access limitations, we were afraid he’d have to do his own build from a kit. We were tickled to learn the local place pre-builds customs with a two week lead time and can crane the finished shed into the back yard for a surprisingly reasonable cost.
If you want to make a woodworker happy, let him know he’s getting the dedicated workshop he always wanted, custom-built to his specs. The one in the featured image up at the top of the post is the version we’re ordering, just without the garage door opening at the end. It’ll probably run us about $5000-5500 after tax, delivery, insulation, and adding the necessary electrical service. Even better: up to 10×20 size, we don’t need a permit.
We did buy a smaller 8×10 metal shed and flooring material while on that side of town, to be delivered next weekend. The smaller storage building is a kit from Lowes, so G has to assemble it over the next couple of weekends. But as he (rightly) pointed out, he needs somewhere to keep his tools and wood stash until the workshop is delivered anyway. This gives us a permanent storage solution for yard tools and his wood stash and so on, without taking up valuable workshop or indoor space. HUGE win.
The trip yesterday allowed for measurements not only for the sheds, but also for fencing. We were happy to discover the back yard chain link was in better condition than either of us remembered, and there’s more of it standing than we recalled. We still have a couple of long sections missing, but it’s not a big deal to fill in the gaps. A lot of the gap materials are actually there, just down. As G and I discussed, it doesn’t need to be pretty as long as it’s functional to corral the furbaby. By the time we add sheds and plants, very little fence will be visible anyway.
For the front yard, which we plan to keep simple, G sketched out a split rail fence. The photo example is more rustic than the version he wants, but that’s the general idea.
The front yard is larger than the back yard. Absolutely nothing there now but rock and more rock. And dirt. And weeds, if you don’t keep after them.
Besides the fence, we’re hoping to plant a shade tree, most likely a jacaranda along these lines:
I have seeds for the purple variety like the one shown at right, but there’s also a yellow-blooming version. If the seeds don’t work out, we can always go to a nursery and get one that’s already off to a decent start.
Jacarandas are fast-growing. The flowers don’t usually show up for the first few years, but the tree itself gets big enough for a decent amount of shade within 2-3 years or so. They’re heat- and drought-tolerant, which are necessities in this part of the world.
Besides the shade tree, the tentative plans are to add Texas sage (bushes) and possibly rosemary or other low-growing shrubs in the front yard. If you’re wondering why we don’t go with a cactus garden, cactus doesn’t need watering or other upkeep, but we can do without the stickery-spiney aspect that comes part and parcel with cactus landscaping.
Wow! It’s getting real now. So happy for both of you. I’m sure once G. has his tools and hands busy, he will be a happier man. And for you, having more room for your future sounds lovely. Good luck.
Thank you, Terri. For some reason my notification system didn’t ever let me know you’d commented here so didn’t see it until today.