Stone Patios

When we moved into this 110 year old house, we knew it was going to take some work. The couple living here previously was divorcing and many things had been left neglected. One of those things was the backyard. In our time here so far we have removed dead/dying cedar trees (17 in all), removed some sort of vine with poisonous berries, replaced the fence and added some flower beds. We wanted to add a stone patio to be able to put our grill on and eventually get an outside table. The wooden porches we have are too small for such things. So we called some landscapers and had some estimates done. Because of last summer's $4 gas prices, the cost was astronomical. It was much more than we were able to spend considering we were in need of replacing the boiler unit for our much needed winter heating. Anyway, fast forward to earlier this week. B was digging around near the house and one of the porches as he was grilling our dinner. There have been these large stones there and I think he had in mind to remove them. As he continues digging he unearths more and more stones. Then he notices that they are in a sort of pattern. He does more digging and then realizes what he is looking at...a stone patio. Under lava rocks, grass and tons of dirt is a stone patio! It is going to take quite a bit of work to reclaim the area and not exactly the look for a patio that we had in mind, but I will take a free patio anyday over having to pay to install one or install one ourselves.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!