backyard remodel

I mentioned several posts back that our deck was worn out completely!

Yes- it was all worn out & rotted.

 It's a total bummer and an expensive fix.

We called our dear neighbor who is a contractor & he gave us a bid to build a 2 new sets of stairs & pour a patio. We didn't want to rebuild because our family is getting much larger & the deck could hardly hold us now!

As Brett was tearing away the rotten deck, he started to see just what was underneath- HUGE ROOTS. HUGE MASSIVE roots - it looked like Jumanji! was growing under the deck.He couldn't even budge these left over studs because roots are growing all around them, anchoring them down.

A hard reality came to us when we realized that the tree- it had to go. 

11 years ago when we bought this house we had some landscapers come out & they recommended we dig out 3 half dead trees out of the front yard (we did that) and... they recommended that we did out this one too. It was over grown then & ruining the rest of the yard, plus grown on top of the house etc. 

But.. I love this tree. 

So we kept it.

Until today- When it finally had to go.

 

View from the upstairs, back bedroom.

Just like that- 3 hours later

it's gone.

Dang 

To be completely honest it's not as bad as I thought it would be.

I can see now that the new patio & stairs will be beautiful. We will have a much bigger & better space in the back yard. We are planning some new digs for our birdie friends too. 

I can't bear to think of a winter without our downy woodpecker & his wife.... 

or the pretty little gold finches. We absolutely love our chickadees too.

-Sigh-

Well- now that the painful part is over-

let's hope the building starts soon!?