A hard day's work

A big storm came through our area last and tore up the neighborhood last week.  The rain came down so fast that it flooded our pool, despite the drain, and the wind blew in at 75mph.  Last year, at about this time, we were going through a historic drought and that resulted in a devastating loss of trees.  However, the unseen danger was when root systems of old trees were severely damaged but still standing and then tried to come back this past spring.  The leaves collected rain, which made the trees heavy, and the wind blew so hard that many trees ended up looking like this in my area.

This is a picture taken from my driveway, looking right across the street.  I saw it slowly start to fall and I hightailed it to the pantry which is in the center of my house under the stairs!  Trees were swaying all around and some enormous trees were bent so far that their branches were brushing the ground.  Java and I hung out in the dark pantry until I could hear the wind subsiding.

All that rain took a toll on the fresh dirt around the pool and, with nothing to hold it in place, it swept to the corners of the yard and under the fence line.  This is what the edge of the decking looked like.

The sprinkler system was revealed in several places and the corner of the decking was completely exposed and precarious.  So this past weekend we went to work and grabbed stones that were previously used around all the many flower beds in the back yard and came up with this.

Looks better, right?  We did it all ourselves with materials on hand and probably saved a couple hundred bucks, if not more.  It still needs a little tweaking but this should hold the dirt and I'll be planting some pretty plants very soon.  Also, sod is being put down tomorrow.  Very exciting! Pin It Now!