The above pic was taken just over a month ago...
This pic was yesterday! And although the pathway to the front stairs isn't complete and may not even stay in it's present pattern, I am still very happy with the improvements!!!
Rick spent the morning raking out all the piles of soil so we can seed the borders of the walkway. 
Then it poured rain (a good thing) and suddenly all the dirt and dust washed away from the stones and we really liked that you could see the different colors of the stone. We eventually will plant bushes and flowers on the sides, but that is next spring's project!
After our day off we tackled filling in the gaps. Each piece had to be leveled off, built up and filled in. This was the first morning's work. 
We were hit with a heat wave, so we took it slowly, drank tons of cold water and tried to get most of the work done before noon and the 90 degree temps hit.
It was worth it!!!
We are happy with what we see... 
Yep...we like it and this phase is now finished...
Now we have to make sure each stone is seated, level and then need to fill in between each stone.
We really just took a time out to hang our new outdoor thermometer on the garage wall! 
Look...80 degrees (in the shade) and not yet 11 AM...
Once again time for a break...but we are feeling really good about how 
A very slow process in the beginning... 
It all began coming together...
After this portion we stopped for a well deserved break...
Then it was back to work...We really did drive ourselves crazy trying to match each piece to the one before it...there were a few areas where we just tossed one in and figured we'd adjust later.
We wanted nice large pieces at the bottom of all our stairs. 
We figured that was a good place to start.
We have to make all these pieces into a nice walkway...And of course it started to rain!!! 
But first we had to separate them all to see what we had...pick the largest for the landings and just generally size everything up!
Our first attempt... 
We had to start somewhere...This is all new to us and all we see is a giant puzzle...
Rick's just spent a few hours agonizing over the placement of each stone. Each piece built up and snuggled down and filled in. But, something just isn't right. We quit for the day and decide to think it over and start fresh the next morning.
The next day we tear the original out and start over.
Rest a bit and level it a bit...and...REPEAT!!!
Fill...Empty...Rake...Level...REPEAT!!!
Take a nice long rest because this isn't going to get done in just a day!
So I got rid of a pile of wood in the yard, only to replace it with piles of stone and rock!
Makes perfect sense to me. This is called "crusher run"
These are the stones/rocks we will be using for the pathways.
Yep, one pile gone and two more show up...eh?
See all these heavy rocks...We discovered where the saying "I was stuck between a rock and a hard place" came from. Rick has first hand knowledge of just what that saying means!
We really needed walkways so Rick just started digging...
Then he made an outline of what he thought the path should look like.
Then he did lots more digging...
Then he went back and started digging deeper and leveling things out.
We've had logs like these scattered all over the front, side and back yard. Slowly we picked them up and some we saved, others we decided we'd never use. These were the last ones left in the front yard (amongst all the weeds, little leftover bits of wood and rocks). These were good long sturdy logs just crying out to be saved!
Yesterday Andy and Adam came over and it took the 4 of us, but we are finally down to just weeds and rocks left! The logs in the top picture were more than Rick and I could handle on our own and I've been looking at them for a few weeks now, wondering how we were going to get them out of there.
Building work benches is relaxing and therapeutic for Rick!
He finished siding outside the basement and decided we needed another workbench.
He was right (of course) our wonderful garage was sadly lacking someplace to work.
Besides, he just loves hanging around out there!
A small work bench for sitting while working!
The main workbench in our basement.
