Summer Projects

Of course, as summer is arriving, or at least we are hoping that it will someday (this weather sucks), Steve has switched gears and is now focusing on outdoor projects.  While it will be awesome to get some of those projects done, of course it also means that more almost finished projects get added to our to-do list.  Steve has been working his booty off digging dirt, measuring, leveling, dumping, scooping and putting in...a brick patio that is.  My brother, Ryan designed plans for our backyard several years ago and we  (or I should say Steve) is trying to finish up this "almost done" project this summer. 
Our friend, Chris, and Steve split the cost of renting a concrete cutter  2 weeks ago (which they also used to cut some concrete in the front yard (part of another almost finished project) that needed to be done in order to finish our slate path) to make a nice cut line to start the brick.  We got the brick in part from our own furnace chimney that we took out when we put in radiant floors and the rest comes from a dumpster diving trip a couple years ago.  Steve has been working on cleaning the mortar off the bricks (wet down, let sit and scrape) on and off for the last year.  
He plans to get it done over the next couple weekends and then get started on a new backyard deck, repainting some siding (after stripping and sanding) and putting in some more landscaping in the back (and front) yard.