What's new as of 4.5

Hi...sorry for the silence. We haven't really been up to much around the house, so there hasn't been as much to say. Plus we had a string of beautiful sunny days, which makes being on the computer unappealing to me. As you'll see from the video, we rebuilt a rock wall around what will be a flowerbed next to the pool.

On Saturday morning, we went and picked up some dirt from people who responded to my craigslist ad for topsoil. It took us 45 minutes to load into the trailer, and Todd another 45 to unload (my arms were shot by that point, and I couldn't really move, so I supervised. I swear every time I walk past the pile it looks smaller. We will probably need more, which neither of us is looking forward to.

We're still trying to figure out what to do with the pool, so if anyone has any brilliant pool-cleaning tips they've been withholding, please share. Our neighbor said that it had been fully drained before, and we're quickly approaching the point where we might do that, with summer around the bend and all. (Previously, we had thought it would "float" or lift out of the ground on its pipes, then crack, which would be catastrophically bad, but if it's been drained before, maybe it'd be ok.)

The yard is the overwhelming thing at this point. It seems like we keep working at it in little pieces, and it's not really changing. It was such a mess when we got it that we knew it would take a lot to bring around, but I wish things were changing faster. And in order to clean up one mess, we have to make another, which is also frustrating. Example: to rebuild the wall, I had to scatter all the rocks out so I could see them. Since I didn't use all of them, I now have a pile of scattered rocks in the yard. Lovely.

We have been formulating some plans for the rest of the yard, though. Next time, I'll update you on that. I have a diagram and EVERYTHING.