So, I recently told you about a huge pile of concrete in the back of our house on the previous basketball court.   I explained how we moved every single piece of concrete by hand, and told you we repurposed it all.  And now you HAVE to see what we found under that concrete.

I’m just guessing that you now believe we are cuckoo for cocoa puffs.

Original Plans

We had BIG plans last year for that patio area.  We were going to move all of that heavy concrete and simply plop our furniture underneath those shade trees and drink beer.  What a perfect place to cool off after planting our crops in our fields.  (OK, planting our vegetables in our garden on our fake homestead)  After the vegetables were planted, we would sit back and admire all of our hard work over a glass of wine.  Yay!

What We Found Under That Concrete

Can you believe that the original basketball court was in pretty good condition.  Considering we had just removed 1.5 million tons of concrete, we were pretty shocked.

BUT…. the trees.

Those perfectly good trees that would provide the much needed shade after working in our fields (OK, the garden) actually grew THROUGH the cracks of the concrete.

According to our Tree Boy, they ALL needed to come down.

(Insert really big SAD face here.)

All of our dreams for cooling off on our patio underneath those shade trees and drinking beer all afternoon were shattered.

Tree Boy told us things we didn’t want to hear.  He talked about the fact they were so close to our garage and mentioned the words “big expense in our brick work WHEN they fall.”  He said after we install our privacy fence, they would be harder to take down if we changed our minds.  Oh…. and something about bigger trees = more money!

I was pretty upset with Tree Boy.

I begged him to tell us different news.  I asked him if the trees would stand long enough until I make it to the nursing home.

D.R.E.A.M.S    S.H.A.T.T.E.R.E.D

The wifey handled a few of the smaller trees….. But Tree Boy, he did the rest of the job.

Twas a sad day here on the old fake homestead.

It’s now bright and sunny and miserably hot back there.  It’s great for our crops but not so great for relaxing.  But, check this out.

This is all that was holding the biggest tree above ground.

BIG Plans and This Year’s Solution to Last Year’s Problem

Can you give me TWO thumbs down to this area?  It is so janky, unappealing, and have I mentioned HOT?

That hot tub will be tucked beside the left of our shed as soon as the wifey does a little re-wiring job.

Over the next couple of weeks, these two old ladies will begin the construction of a large pergola on the back of our garage.  We will be addressing the cracks in the concrete and leveling the area by laying a flagstone patio directly over the original basketball court.

By garsh, if we can’t have our big shade trees to sip our beer beneath, the next best thing is a pergola.

Whatever, Tree Boy.  You can take our trees and you can shatter our dreams, but you can’t crush our spirits.  Cheers!

Keep your eyes peeled for updates on these exciting upcoming projects, because I will share every last bit.  I will keep you posted if I start crying or if Deb creates any new and improved curse words.

Thanks so much for stopping by every day.  I appreciate it more than you know.  And, thanks so much for commenting and sharing our posts with your friends.

And…….BUH BYE NOW – Said in a loud, high-pitched old lady’s voice, because how else could you say BUH BYE NOW.