Keeping my feet on level-ish ground

As I sit on my front porch this evening, freshly showered and surrounded by neglected yardwork (mow the lawn, cut back dead flowers, weed, fertilize, and on and on) and as a sip of wine (Horizon's Edge Bone Dry Gewurtztraminer) washes down the last layer of dust coating my mouth. I notice for the first time that it was a perfect day in Seattle. Not a cloud in the sky, perfect temperature (about 80 or so).

In other words, this patio project has been all consuming for the last few weeks.

Therefore, tomorrow will be a day of rest. I will go celebrate the holy festival of the Sunday Ride at the church of The Great Twisties where I will practice the ritual of Scraping a Knee. After which we will gather in Paul's woodland retreat to observe the holy saints of MotoGP demonstrate miracles at the Sachsenring Cathedral and partake of the feast of St. BBQ. Twisted be the throttle, Amen.

Ok...apparently I'm a bit punchy, too.

Now for the progress report: After completing the gross excavation yesterday (which is more like Bush's "Mission Accomplished" statement than I care to admit), I went down to Pavingstone Supply in Ballard to order my base material and pavers. It cost about what I expected, which is to say: It t'weren't cheap. Still a major milestone in the project.

Luckily, they won't be delivered until Friday, which is probably how long it will take me to level the damn thing. Today was actually very frustrating. I was trying to lay out the level surface using stakes, string and a line level. To my utter @#$%-ing dismay, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't make it line up. I would make a level line from end of the patio to the other in 6' to 8' sections and continue on to make a square. Each section was leveled, but by the time I returned to the starting point, I'd be 2" or 3" off! BAH!

Eventually, I decided to take a more sectional approach. By using an 8'-long 2"x4" and my 4' carpenter's level I can get a good sense of how level any given 8'x8' section of the patio is. I've also put a 1/2" bump on the board so I can be sure the patio slopes away from the house. (1/2" per 4' distance).

The one thing I've discovered is that I've over-excavated a bit. So after digging up a chunk of the yard, I find myself putting it back! No worries, with 6 cubic yards of topsoil around, I'm actually pretty happy to put some of it back!

That said, it still took me about 3 hours to level about 1/3 of the area, so I figure it will take me the rest of the week to get everything squared away (no pun intended...really). Just in time to start moving the 1/4-minus and paving stones!

Right now it looks like I will finish a little bit after the end of July since I have a couple major events that will consume the next couple Saturdays, which will put me behind schedule a bit. If this wonderful weather holds, it won't be a problem, so keep your fingers crossed.