never-ending yard project

I thought I'd post some "before" photos of our never-ending yard project that's been going on for almost a year now. It all started last August when our septic tank decided to back up on us. We had no idea where the septic tank was even after repeatedly asking the original home owner several times. Well, needless to say, it ended up being a major ordeal. We first had to call roto-rooter to "buy" us some time to make numerous phone calls to the appropriate people that could help us. After many phone calls, Roto-Rooter who "bought" us some time, an excavator who made a nice 8' x 15' trench, and the pumper who completed the job, we had a nice little mess in our yard. Since I always wanted a stone patio installed, I decided this would be the perfect opportunity to get my "dream yard." We had the patio installed last November just before winter showed up. I had no idea they had to make it so high. We also decided to have a white pergola installed since our yard has a perfect southern exposure with absolutely no shade. When spring arrived, we noticed that some of the bricks were disintegrating, so the whole patio had to be replaced! One thing has lead to another, so now we have to repair and refinish our deck and do landscaping. Hopefully, this won't take up the whole summer.
This is what some of our railing logs look like. This is the ugliest stain I have ever seen. It all has to be sanded off and the wood refinished.




Just look at all those spindles that have to be sanded! These are just on part of our deck. The railing also wraps around to the side.








Here is the raised patio that will have to be landscaped. We have to bring in around 14 yards of topsoil to finish filling the hole that sunk from the trench that was made. Sod will then have to be laid. We will use the remainder of the topsoil around the edge of the patio and plant hedges. I'm thinking of adding a rock garden as well.








This is the white pergola we had installed. I love it. It provides some shade for a very sunny backyard.








We also had the paver company install this spa pad for a future jacuzzi.







Another "before" photo of the stone patio.







Back to looming, I've been trying to convert some knitting stitches. I was experimenting with one on the loom today and created a swatch. This one is called a basket weave stitch. It would make a great stitch for an afghan.