Plummer Post: The Great Plummer Yard Project 2011

I know its March and I am just blogging about January, but since most of January and February were spent in a sleepy haze of morning sickness (should I say all day sickness) I am just getting to January updates. John has been asking to put grass in the front yard for years however, I have been hesitant because I remember how much work it was to do the back yard. However, on New Years Eve Day, I relented and the Great Plummer Yard Project 2011 began. So much of January (on John's days off) was spent moving rock in the front yard. John would dig up the rock, I would shift out the dirt and then we would move the rock to other areas of the yard that needed rock. If this sounds like fun, you may need to get out more.

During this process, we had a variety of onlookers come by and comment on our progress and our plans. Of course, everyone has an opinion, but it appeared the unanimous decision of the lookie loo's was that grass would not grow under our trees. This started to concern me because after all this work I wanted lush happy grass not brown dead grass. So I consulted some contractors who confirmed that grass would be very hard to grow under the trees. So John and I now had a yard that was half dirt half rock all ready for the grass that would soon be dead. What to do. We kicked around several ideas such as artificial turf (amazingly expensive) and maybe just putting the rock back (just too depressing for words) and finally came up with the idea of putting a courtyard with a three foot wall into the front yard. Just for a timeline reference we were now in February and I was getting a little bit should we say anxious about the yard.

So contractors were consulted and estimates were provided for the courtyard. We called with City of Chandler to determine our set backs and permitting needed. Then we called our friendly home owners association (HOA) to determine if the courtyard could happen. They let us know that we needed to submit our plan along with pictures of all materials and then they had 45 days to approve the project. One of the contractors estimates worked for us (and our checkbook) so we filled out all the paperwork and submitted to the HOA on February 25, 2011. And now we are waiting and waiting to find out if they will approve the Great Plummer Yard Project. Lets hope for the best. Below are some pictures.