That time I did something like cleaning.

 

Because of all the rain/ flood/ monsoon like weather we’ve been having around here, our brick patina has morphed into a slimy green algae monster.

 

and the front of the house aint’ looking so hot either:

Gross right?

My dad thoughtfully let me borrow his pressure washer so I could clean her up a bit. This was a double blessing because I finally got some more free bricks to finish the patio project. I was short about a hundred and thanks to my mother in law we have the rest. They even match for the most part (what are the odds?). The ones we found were covered in mortar, so the pressure washer was an easier tool to get that off before laying them.

My first step was to lock my dog in the bathroom ( I’d usually say chicken coop, but seemingly juneau now understands that she’s trapped and communicates via BARK BARK BARK (( I’m upset, let me out)) times like 700. ). In the bathroom she just thinks she has personal control over our air vent. I’d usually just let her in the house but since we have a bunny now,  we have to make sure there's at least two closed doors between those two. Juneau has the cunning of a velociraptor from Jurassic park when it comes to opening doors.

She actually opened the backyard gate and went on a grand adventure this week. I’d tell you about it but you can just read this story instead because it’s like 95% the same thing.

Having never used a pressure washer before, it’s surprisingly very tiring to squeeze the handle for long periods of time. I’m a weakling, I know! I found that there was a magical height between holding it to close and getting to little done, and holding it to far away where it lost it’s effectiveness. None the less it was actually kind of fun in that it’s-a-flamethrower-scorch-those-algae-enemy's kind of way.

And rewarding?! see her sparkle **zing**zing

generally speaking I’m against lists and agendas and plans but for the sake of getting er done, here’s what's left to do on the patio:

1. move around and adjust the existing bricks so they are straight again (since they've  been outside with everyone walking all over them and nothing to hold them down).

2. switch any bricks that are too close in color, and mix up the two loads so you can’t tell they are two batches.

3. putty knife off any remaining mortar

4. possibly rent a wet saw for the end corners nearest the wall

5. wait for a dry day with no chance of rain (which might be next year at this rate)

6. fill in with polymeric sand, brush off top

7. wet the sand with a hose and let it work it’s magic

we’re still debating the fire pit area as weather to move it and fill in that corner with bricks and relocate it farther from the house/ or make a pizza oven instead of fire pit.

 

Ultimately my plan for the back yard might involved building a table that we can use during gatherings. I’d love to spray something on the bricks so they don’t' collect so much mold. Also, just mowing the grass every once in a while…perhaps I shouldn’t be so ambitious if I can’t get that done regularly! I swear it grows a foot a day.

If it gets to tall there's always the fear of this:

 

(I figure you get extra blogging points if you can fit dinosaur references in your posts twice.)