Front Yard, Brick Work and Mulch

June 17, 2023

Big yard day, today. I was out early to pick up some mulch, and ended up driving a bit more than anticipated.

Liz has a strong preference for Black Forest mulch. I’ve found it at a nearby Lowe’s in Gresham. The other place I’ve found it has been at City Escape (further away, and a bit pricier).

Today, I made the mistake of heading to Gresham before checking the store inventory. Usually, they have tons. But sometimes, it’s completely gone. And today… there was a big, empty space where the bags usually are.

So I was back in my car, and headed to the North side.

While I was doing my errands, Liz was up the way at Spruce Park. There was a call for volunteers to help clean, and she brought some tools and decided to give a little time back to the neighborhood.

Back with the mulch.

In addition to the mulch, Liz pulled up all the bricks (which had become a bit buried).

Enlarging the circle.

While Liz was working in the yard, I was helping dump bags of mulch here and there. And in between that, I was using the power washer to clean up the bird fountain.

Late afternoon, watering the mulch.

Bricks repositioned. Liz is wanting to paint the top of the bird bath white (to cover up the repair work). Since we wanted to give this part time to dry, we put up a small bowl for water.

A funny story: we moved the fountain to the driveway, so I could clean it and so Liz could reposition the bricks. Several times throughout the day, we watched birds swoop to th emiddle of our front yard, only to pull up suddenly and fly away.

It was clear they were looking for water, and suddenly seeing us and a missing fountain, did an aerial U-turn. It happened so many times, Liz and I recognized the pattern. It was really funny to see.