The Outdoor Project - What keeps me away from the workbench

We have reached a point in the year when its relatively safe to actually plant things in Colorado. Spring can be a dicey proposition here for planting as the threat of snow can extend well into May. We had to perform a rescue mission at one point and bring all the potted plants indoors as we did get a couple of those nasty May snowstorms this year.

Last week was spent planting all the flowers and vegetables and getting the whole patio ready for summer entertaining. That included a little bit of back breaking labor putting in a path where the dogs have managed to wear away all the grass as they run to check out what our neighbor is doing. 

I also managed to replace the third brake light on my jeep. A little less than an hour job turned into about 4 hours until I realized that the issue was a blown fuse. Once I replaced that things worked like a charm and I managed to eliminate the "periscope" brake light that obstructs vision through the rear view mirror. All of that occurred because the tire carrier for the spare tire had cracked and needed to be replaced. That turned out to be the easy part!

Where the new concrete path will go. You can see one of the culprits giving her approval.

Digging the trench, 4 inches deep, two for the gravel bed and two for the concrete pavers.

Gravel in place, tamping has begun and will continue for a bit.

Some of the other work. We fenced in part of the flower garden by the patio so that it wouldn't become a digging ground for the dogs. I decided that this would be a good, safe spot for the large Talavera pottery pig I received from my Mom (She is in a condo in Boulder now and no longer has a garden for the pig), with the addition of a few more smaller pigs its now the pig pen.

A Talavera snail by the fountain

And an escaping pig in that odd space between the fountain and the fence.

And a Talavera pottery donkey complete with basil to help keep away mosquitoes. I really like the metal peacock on the table too.