We're done.....finally!

After nearly four months, who knows how many man-hours, and several hundred doses of Ibuprofen, we finally, FINALLY completed our patio. This picture shows Dana smoothing out the sand for the final load of bricks. By the time we were done, we were a well-oiled machine and had the process down to a science. Dana smoothed out the sand while the stones were brought out, then Dan laid them into the sand, pounded them into place, and leveled them.

We are really pleased with how it turned out. Maybe not professional quality, but then again, we would not have that feeling of pride and accomplishment if we had hired pros to do it. Of course, we have the sore backs, aching shoulders, and rubbed-off fingertips that go along with that pride as well. 

Sitting out on a surprisingly pleasant November morning on our newly finished deck was really gratifying. It is on the south side of the house, so it has sun virtually all day long, and the dark stones pull as much heat out of the sun as possible. Hopefully, this will mean that we don't have to worry about clearing snow off in the winter.
And here is a view from the side. Eventually, we will surround the patio with xeroscape plants and planter-boxes, as well as a ring of rocks between the retaining wall and the lawn. We will also build in some brick stairs to the house, and some steps leading down to the lawn on both sides.

For now, though, we are just proud that we got it done, and that it looks more or less like how we had envisioned it. Dan comes from a family of incurable do-it-yourselfers, and this patio is something like his coming of age. Most impressively, we got all this work done without once even killing each other.

We got some great help from our fiends, and could not have done it without them. Thanks guys!