I just thought I’d post a quick update of projects I have going on around my house at the moment. I haven’t actually accomplished much in the last several weeks because I’ve been fighting a nasty head cold and it’s either been too rainy or too hot outside to spend any more than an hour or two working on any one project. We had a month long dry spell here in central NJ and then just had three solid days of rain, so I don’t think I’ve had to mow my lawn in about five weeks. It just hasn’t grown much in the heat. With the recent rain, though, I figure I’ll have to cut in another couple days.

Backyard Cleanup - I wrote about my ugly backyard cleanup and how I was manually digging the stone and sand from the dirt and then using a stone sifter I made to keep some soil in place. What I didn’t realize was the sheer amount of stone there was in certain parts of the yard. I apparently started out on the shallow end of the circle where the stone was only about six inches deep in most places. As I approached the other side in July I found that in some areas the stone was a good 12 inches deep… or more. It was at about that point that I also realized that I would have a pile of stone about 12 feet high in my backyard when all was said and done. I admit it: I was beaten. I called in a professional. I’ll post details in a while.

Planting Grass - Due to the backyard cleanup I now have a lot of spots in my yard that need grass. Fortunately, the recent rain has really helped get the grass growing where I put down topsoil and seed. I’ll share with you some tips for that once I get some good photos.

Junk Removal - My backyard was also filled with old railroad ties and left over logs and pressure-treated lumber from the previous owner. I bought a small electric chainsaw and have been spending an hour here and there cutting the pieces down to about two foot segments and loading them in my trunk for short trips to my local dump. Just getting rid of that stuff makes my yard look better already.

Furniture refinishing - I have a small (very small) furniture refinishing job. My wife found a little piece of furniture just the right size for my son, so I’m sanding it down and prepping it for quick refinishing. It’s actually in pretty good shape, so I’ve been kind of slow in working too hard on this one. I’ll write about this later, too.

As you can see most of my projects are still exterior in nature, mostly because we’re trying to get the outside in decent enough condition to have some guests over for my son’s first birthday party in September. The weather should still be warm enough to have people over, which is why I’ve been so focussed on the exterior and basically been ignoring the interior. I’m just taking my time and resting up for a final push of work some September. I’ll post updates and photos soon!