Rock n' Rollin in Austin TX

The other day I told a friend of mine that hubby had bought me a Rock...  She immediately asked what jewelry store he got it at and how many carats.  I told her she would just have to come over and see it, being the expert she is about jewelry. She is a collector of fine jewelry and has the diamonds on every finger and her arm to prove it.  When she arrived she came in laughing, as she has known me long enough to know I don't really care about diamonds.  When she saw my rock she really cracked up.  Here is my Rock. It is a 3/4 Ton Honeycomb Limestone.  It has a bonus of some little verbena growing in some of the crevices.  You can see the tire tracks from the fork lift that delivered it.

 

We started the landscaping on the side yard that had been torn up from last years sewer fiasco and then the foundation repair following that.  We should have gotten it done sooner this spring, but with work and all the travel and family stuff, we just couldn't find the time.  So we get started on the day it hits 90 degrees here and then yesterday it got up to 95. I worked in the early morning hours, but hubby worked all day. We have a lot more to do, but will work on it in segments.

Here's a bit of our progress so far.

 

After rototilling the entire area, and putting paver stones along the driveway to widen it just a bit.

 

Delivery of supplies along with my Rock

 

The tools that I myself used to bust up every bit of the ton of sandstone. Then I carried the pieces to the yard and built a border around the walkway that hubby built, and also around the tree.  I was not as sore as I thought I would be after day one.  But after day two of doing this, it hit me, and I could hardly walk. A couple of hot mineral bath soaks helped a lot. My knees and hips are still very sore, from the bending and placing the stones though. Hubby took a video of me busting rocks, as proof that this actually happened.  I am a designer and supervisor, I am not a hard labor kind of gal, so I guess we actually do need proof of my part in this endeavor.

 

Liriope grass planted and hubby working on drip emitters for where the Asian Jasmine will be planted. This is next to the house beside the path.

  

Workers are taking a little break.  On the last day, I was so tired, I would carry one stone, then rest.  Then carry two stones, then rest and have a coffee, another stone, another coffee and rest.

 

Where we are for now. Walkway finished, stones outlining under the oak tree. Under the tree will all be Asian Jasmine. The part that still shows as dirt will be filled in with a few more specimen plants, yucca, a row of sedge grass. Maybe a few succulents.  The rest will be 1" river rock, shown here.

 

 

All the plants will be on drip irrigation. Hubby had to practically redo our entire sprinkler system.  We will have eliminated a lot of turf that had to be watered, so we are happy about that.

 

 As you can tell by the photo, we share this side yard with a neighbor.  The tree is actually planted on his property, but reaches way over ours as well.   We decided to do the project together for a cohesive look.  I think it is going to look great when all completed.