Taking Back Our Back Yard...Part two

Happy Tuesday all! This week I'm showing you the process hubby and I went through this very time last year to revamp our back yard. Yesterday I showed you the laborious task we had of tearing out a line of forsythia bushes, lilacs and an old gate-to-nowhere here.

Today I'll show you what we did to this side of the yard:

First things first, we went to town dismantling the dilapidated fence. I wish I had taken pictures, but we were SO excited to start this project that I didn't get my camera til it came time to remove the rotting shed.

Let's just say the fence was so easy to tear down a toddler could do it - not that I would ever allow a toddler to rip a fence down - that's just how easy it was because of it's rundown condition and how poorly it had been assembled in the first place. I'm talkin a hammer and crowbar, and this thing was down in 20 minutes flat - no joke :)

Next up on the demolition agenda: This rotting wood shed that had become home to a few woodland creatures, namely squirrels and chipmunks.

Let me introduce you to a few characters here in the photo below:

 

The seemingly disembodied arm on the left belongs to none other than my honey, Mike.  The man in the middle is our neighbor from across the street who was the brains behind this operation (the demolition and fence installation), and is also named Mike. And the man on the left is our next-door neighbor, Dave ,who shares that fence line and also did a ton of work on the project.

The next few photos depict Neighbor Mike's idea for the shed demolition. Note the 2x4 leaning against the right front corner of the shed. Can you guess why that's there?

Why, so Neighbor Mike could use his truck as a wrecking ball of course! :)

 

If you look through the open door, can you see the difference in the gap between the shed and ground? It was working!

This moment was too exciting to pass up so I took a little video of it on my camera.

**DISCLAIMER** At around 12 seconds in, my husband drops the "S" bomb referring to the squirrels who used to live in this shed and what they might've just done in their little squirrel pants after the truck came through :) So if there are any little ones around you've been warned ;)

Also of note, I foolishly thought there WAS no sound when my camera records so I make some stupid comment about that in reference to Mike's "bad" word. Then the rest of the video is pretty unexciting. But watch anyway if want, haha:

So Neighbor Mike rammed it with his truck one or two more times and then...

Went medieval on the thing, haha! He started tearing off the doors...

Which my honey then loaded into the truck for disposal...

 

Then when it looked like this:

 

The three men mustered up every ounce of true grit and manly power possible and pushed it over!

Okay, it wasn't that difficult, but look at them - they sure were proud of the job they did :) awwww, haha.

Then, off came the sides:

And it was at this point I put the camera down and decided I should probably help. Plus, it looked like the guys were enjoying the demo and I wasn't about to miss out on that kind of fun. And guess what - it WAS fun. Hands down, demo is the best part of any project...well, besides the finished product, of course!

Here are Dave's daughter's who came out to show their support and stood proudly on the spot where the shed once stood:

Aren't they so cute?!

Next up was ripping out that platform (it was so close to the house and there were signs of termites - that was NO good):

And by late morning/early afternoon, that side of the yard looked like this:

The shed's platform (front pile) was cut into thirds for easier hauling and disposal, and that huge pile in the back was the remains of the shed and fence. Ahhhh...THAT is the feeling of accomplishment and a great day's work :)

We took all the debris to our township's waste management and recycling center where they sort everything from construction materials (which was the category for our haul) to yard waste (which is where we took all the forsythia trimmings discussed in yesterday's post) where it's composted and turned into mulch that's free to all township residents - pretty cool, huh?

So to conclude, we eventually had a clear yard on all three sides and could FINALLY commence Operation Build a Fence - WOO TO THE HOO! :)  Here's a little sneak peak:

Check that out tomorrow yo! :)

~Amy