The Bricks

When we purchased our home we had very little grass in our backyard. A large tree had previously stood almost in the middle of the back yard ensuring that virtually no grass could be grown. It is our best guess that the first owners of our home, who built in our house in the early 1940’s and lived there until it was passed to their niece in the early 2000’s decided that it would be a good idea to brick a large portion of the yard. However, before we purchased our home that particular tree was removed. We now get plenty of afternoon sun and as a result grass is now an option.

One of the first things that I was dying to do when we moved into our house was to pull up as many of those bricks as I could get my hands on. So one Saturday morning in March of 2007, I got after it. Let me just say that it was the most exhausting and back breaking physical activity I have ever experienced. After a full day’s work I had removed all the bricks and stacked them nicely. At that time I told Blake he better pay someone to come get them because I was never touching those bricks again! We thought about it for a few weeks and came up with the bright idea to put them for sale online, pick-up only. They sold within hours. So, not only did I never have to touch them again, the buyer came and paid us to haul them off! In retrospect we probably could have gotten more for them but at that point we just wanted them gone!

The next step was to sod the backyard. Sand had been used when setting the bricks so Blake began by tilling the sand and dirt in order to prepare the ground for the sod. We then laid sod in checkerboard form.

Thanks to a very rainy summer last year and a wonderful husband who is much more disciplined than I am when it comes to watering, we now have a very healthy and green yard! This little project almost doubled the amount of grass in the backyard and Vega seems to really enjoy it!