D.213\12

So I want to build up the southern wall and create the succulent garden, I made the measurements today. 13' 8" long by 32" high roughly 50 bricks, since some need to stick out. 50 bricks at home depot cost about $1.14 so the whole wall will cost about $57 for the bricks plus the cost of the mortar. That is about $5 for 80lbs and Ragazzo says we need about 3 bags, so $15 so about $72-$75 for this complete project. I can afford that.

The next project is the retaining wall, initially I was thinking railroad ties, but those are fucking expensive!!!! So I will build it with concrete blocks like the wall. This retaining wall will be 28' from the southern wall then turn towards the house and continue for another 9'. S that roughly 84 bricks then turn and an additional 28 bricks for a total of 112 bricks roughly $130. 

Now, from this retaining wall I want to build another shade structure. It will start at the flower bed (roughly 3'-4' from the southern wall) and extend 8' north and be about 12' wide. The top of this structure will house dead branches taken from the trees out front and this will provide holding for the Virginia creeper and wisteria that I want to plant in the flower bed and g to grow on the shade structure. From the posts that are built in the retaining wall it provides a solid post to stretch an awning from them to the roof and provide much needed shade for the grass that is going in the area between the patio and the retaining wall. 

Speaking of the grass, the area needs to have a slight slope for drainage which works perfectly for me. The soil needs to be about 10" at the edge of the patio concrete and can slope downward away. To achieve this slope I will need top soil ($1.63 for 1 cubic ft at Lowe's) and lawn soil ($5.97 for 1.5 cubic ft at Lowe's). So this is going to be L shaped, so 192"x57"= 10,944" sq is about  76 sq ft. That seems like a lot, hmmm. Then 28'x14' gives me 392 sq ft for a total of 468 sq ft. Fuck that's a lot of dirt... Plus the sod which Ragazzo said came in 5 sq ft so about 94 pieces of sod and I don't know that price but it isn't something we have to think about until spring next year anyways. But the area has to be built up first with the top soil and lawn soil.

Ragazzo says I need 12 Fulton bricks for my little garden against the south side of the patio that I want to extend out. God I love this man, he pulled the bricks out of the existing bed, pulled in dirt from the yard to build up the level of the soil and re-laid the bricks to calculate the exact number of bricks that I will need. Now he is brining in dirt around the patio edge to build up my slope... Wow, why do I ever doubt this man, I need to fucking get over my insecurities. 

So 12 bricks at Lowe's is $1.52 total of $18.24  

Okay, I'm exhausted. We went to Lowe's and got 50 cinder blocks, 12 bricks, 2 bags of mortar, 1 thing to get the mortar on the blocks... What's it called? Some wooden pickets for him, and uh... I think that was it. Only $120! I thought it would have been more. Anyways, we got home, unloaded all that into the backyard and now my hands are scratched up and my arms are tired. But then we moved all those branches that he removed from the tree in the front yard and broke them down and moved those into the backyard too. That'll be for the shade structure that I wanna build. 

Alright, well, that it is for today. I'm exhausted,need a shower then off to bed.

Con affecto.

Me