A Colorado Cliff May...: Six Tons of Rock, Six Hands, Two Shovels, One Wheelbarrow

So...Memorial Day Weekend. Most people were enjoying a well-deserved day off. BBQs, drinks on the patio of their favorite bar, time out in the sun (as it rained here in Denver all week, strangely), etc. Well, we certainly spent some time out in the sun, and we did head over to our friends' house for a BBQ late Sunday (thumbs up on the Omaha steaks, Jesse!), but otherwise we were out in the sun trying to complete Landscaping Project 2007: Phase I. This included installing a rock pathway parallel to the driveway (so we can walk past our cars when parked instead of shimmy-ing between them), installing a rock path to the cabin in the courtyard, and finally adding a rock path on the north side of the house from the courtyard to the backyard.

Luckily, my brother Will volunteered to come up from Taos and help me out; I now know that it would not have even come CLOSE to being done if he had not shown up, so kudos for him. I'm not sure he realized what he was volunteering for, but neither did I! So we just took it in stride, and actually enjoyed ourselves despite 24 hours of labor to knock this thing out.

Things worth noting:

It is hard to do anything worthwhile to your house without owning a truck of some sort. Luckily Will brought his. When I get a new car (no time soon), I think it will have to be a Nissan Frontier crew cab. I don't like the idea of driving a truck all the time, but it sure would make all this house stuff easier.
We spent 3/4 of the time of this project removing, adding, and transporting dirt. And now, I have to borrow a truck from someone to transport the rest of the dirt/junk/leftover stuff from the project. (See bullet 1)
Low-voltage lighting rocks. I was worried about the installation of the landscape lighting, but a child of four, hermedically-sealed in a jar, could have done it.
Sawzalls also rock. Everyone should own one...which means I need to go out and get one and stop borrowing the guy's from across the street

Friday - Rock, Pavers, and William Arrive!