Backyard Phase 2: Done!

Awhile back I mentioned that we were working on the backyard in stages. The deck off the living room was stage one, the area to the right of the deck to the gate was stage 2, and then stage 3 and stage 4 are to the left of the deck.

The goal for stage 2 was to create an area for the barbecue and some additional seating, with a path to the gate, that was as low maintenance as possible. That meant no grass that had to be watered or dirt that needed weeding. We opted for gravel to achieve this goal and after lots of deliberating, finally chose some from a local building supply company. The gravel is just smooth enough that you can easily walk on it barefoot, but Pete additionally made some steps out of scraps from the deck so you can walk through more quickly. Here's an original before:

A shot after the fence was first up and most of the oleander stumps were dug out:
 
And after Pete and his Dad (and at some points Tony) worked at it on Saturday:

Didn't they do a great job? I love how tidy it is!! and that it will stay that way. With weed block down beneath the gravel, we hope for very little maintenance. The guest bedroom and baby's room also look out onto this area, so it's nice to have a cleaner view from the inside of the house as well.

What's left: Phase 3 and 4

 We aren't planning on getting to stage 3 or 4 this summer. We have other projects to do, namely having a baby and revamping the front bathroom if possible. : ) When we do get to it, the rest of the oleanders are going, as well as the remaining old fence posts to make room for grass in the sunny area. The shady area makes up Stage 4 and slopes up towards the fence and runs along the garage to the left up towards the front of the house and the other gate. To be honest, I don't care much about stage 4 - right now it's a camellia forest and a place for the trash cans and it can stay that way for all I care. Having a grassy area in Stage 3 is a way more fun priority that I am looking forward to eventually. It might be fun to have picnics with the baby. : )

When I told Pete I was going to post an update on the backyard he requested I also add a couple shots of our recent "pets".

 This is our friend the huge possum who got stuck on the fence one night trying to get through our yard. We watched him for a good 20 minutes trying to navigate his way past our yard without having to come down off the fence. Poor guy was super scared. We finally decided to give him some privacy to figure it out. He was actually pretty cute minus the tail. We haven't seen him since. 

We get lots of tiny lizards at the start of spring out sunning themselves all over town, but this guy was ginormous - at least 8 to 10 inches. He was lounging out next to our dryer vent, enjoying the warm air. He's also been MIA which is totally fine.

So that's our latest backyard update. We did some other yard maintenance on Sunday in the front, and Pete dug out the stump of the dead birch tree we'd left sitting for awhile in all but 20 minutes. Pretty awesome when we thought it was going to be a several hour project.  That left us plenty of time to enjoy the sun on our deck before heading to a friend's for dinner. It was a great weekend!