Not many updates here over summer, but still few things happening around the house. Where to start with this update is the question. Easiest, I guess, is just to start where I left off last time, with a list.

• waterproofing plastic around foundations to trim
• foundations to paint
• front and back porch to do
• back patio to tile
• lawn to put down
• washing line to put up
• gardens to do
• …

So, as you can see there are a few things crossed off the list and we have a few more things done that weren’t there to start with. So, back to the beginning.

Mum and Dad arrived mid July. That was supposed to be a bit of a break, apart from one thing I had planned to do about this time, which was trim the waterproofing from the foundations and paint them. In the process of working out how to do that I found that they should also be plastered before painting them! The waterproofing sheet turned out to be quite easy to cut, but it had to be trimmed below the ground level, so that meant moving all the crushed rock back from the foundations. That involved lots of sweating to all involved (thanks Dad :-). Adding the plastic trim to the top edge of the plastic went quite well also even if it wasn’t always so straight. But no-one sees that anyway :-). And then a bit of plastering later (with some expert help) it cleaned up quite well. And finally a spot of paint for the finishing touches.

Something else that we had been thinking about, but wasn’t on the list, was somewhere to put the rubbish bin. Seems that having a little hut for the bin is a trendy thing to have and one of the garden construction books we have made it look quite easy, so it was time to make use of our guests again :-). There was quite a bit of wood still lying around from the house and some roofing tiles, so all we ended up buying was a bit of white paint and the metal stakes for the legs. With some assistance from everyone and a couple of weeks working off and on (because of the weather) we progressed from a few scribbles on paper to the finished article (which is still standing too!). And best thing of all is that the rubbish collectors even put the bin back in the right place now.

I thought we had escaped further work for the rest of the summer, but in late August we had the opportunity to get the lawn done. Everything came up at the right time, we could be home that weekend, the gardeners were free, and Pia’s parents were available as well. So, first up came the dirt. We managed to skimp a bit on that and scrapped by with just 70 cubic metres of topsoil. As we found out later we could have easily used much more than that (some online estimates said over 300 cubic metres!). That was still two truck and trailer units worth of dirt that was dumped either end of the house. Then Lea and Risto bought the gardeners tractor down on their truck Friday with the gardeners arriving Saturday morning. Actually not so much to do apart from stand around and watch (or pick up stones). The tractor spread the dirt and flattened it off. Then the fertilizer was spread along with the seeds. Then the surface was mixed up using the little open roller device. The results you can see further below. Our last job was to get a lawn mower in the end-of-season sales.

Two days after the grass was sown the sky opened and it poured down. I had visions of all the seeds floating away and at first glance afterwards that is what had happened. In places the topsoil seemed to be gone and little rivers were cut through the lawn. Luckily that wasn’t quite the case, although we do have grass sprouting in places it shouldn’t be and a few bare areas that will probably need sown again next year. But as you can see below, watching grass grow isn’t so boring after all 🙂

6 days later…

12 days later…

18 days later…

22 days later…

and its still growing!