Retaining wall complete with drainage and reflectors

Guard cow

Slide restrain

Last December 24th, our first holiday in the house, an abundance of rain caused a chunk of our backyard to slide into the road below.

So we are attempting to re-engineer the area before the rains begin again.

Several trees were removed to reduce the weight on the landslide soil, and then used them to create a huge turnout on the creek-side of the road.

This is the first in a series of retaining walls that are being installed to keep our "backyard" in place.

Bacahus performs a final inspection of the wall.

Also part of the work, we are adding a backup power generator.

I resisted having a propane tank installed initially, but it will be necessary to fuel the generator.

Because we'll have liquid propane, and blackouts are infrequent, we're ditching our old electric water heater for a tankless.

The propane tank cove is ready!

Complete with Loki's seal of approval.

Chip sealing

Nearly approachable

Currently, completion is slated for this week!

Concrete results

First of two loads of cement

Mesmerizing watching these guys work hard and fast against the clock

Went with concrete for the bend in our driveway to better handle the upcoming years of UPS and other heavy vehicles

He's doing the "jitterbug"! No, serious, that's what it's called: jitterbugging.

I attempted to add a few Loki paw prints for character, but they were quietly and quickly brushed away by the concrete guru (can't blame the guy; I'm the same with any of my work)

Second load arriving

Perfection, unless the deer have a party on it before fully setting

Last phase, which is due for completion this week: asphalt

Clean car, clean dog

Before, washing my car meant a dirty dog because loves make mud with the runoff. Now, clean car, clean dog! I'm in love with my new paving stones!

Paver progress—part IV

Borders completed!

Sand will fill the gaps to help lock the bricks together.

A large roller will come through after the sand to compress everything into place.

Paver progress—part III

Ten more pallets arrived, and two hard-working guys threw down half of them in a day!

Loki posing

Last of the (whole) paving stones are down!

Border work is all that's needed for the upper parking area.

For the curious, the paving stones were made to order by Calstone: http://calstone.com/. The hard-working folks putting them down, DMS Construction: http://scdmsconstruction.com/

Civilized drive

Now that the retaining walls are in, I finally got to rip down my hastily orange painted street sign, and replace it with a spiffy new reflective one.

After the paver stones are laid, asphalt will stretch from the parking area to the local road. Dust will finally be defeated!

Paver progress—part II

Ten pallets of paver stones down!

The next 10 pallets arrive tomorrow.

And there's another 10 pallets after those...

Paving progress pictures

Retaining wall post being set where our driveway meets the road

I'll have to measure, but there more than 200 feet of wall to keep the landslide tide back

The parking area is being graded for water drainage

I'm told we are paving approximately 2800 square feet of hillside

Using gravel along the borders, and will likely be adding retaining walls up the hillside to reduce erosion, and increase our landscaping and garden areas

Soon I can wash my car without the dog turning himself into a mud ball

Paver stones, which were baked to order for our site, arriving pallet after pallet

They're cutting several of the stones so that they can lay the pavers like cobblestone