I had an interesting conversation this morning with Mike & Melisa. We are of a like mind about how we each want to maintain the aesthetic “curb appeal” of our homes. Neither of us is trying to sell our properties and neither of us are located on our streets in places that get tons of passerby traffic. So, I think its fair to say that we care about how our properties look for our own peace of mind and pleasure. I started out with a well-developed front garden planted by our predecessor over 13 years ago. I have added to it and amended it as needed and as portions have aged out, leaving me with what I think of as a random layered garden effect that I find quite bespoke and pleasingly natural-looking. Mike & Melisa started with a raw lot ten years ago and have spent the past five years slowly and quite meticulously planting things here and there for long term effect. Whatever I lack in patience, Mike & Melisa make up for by slowly and surely building out an impressive and very healthy garden with a pleasant array of differing zerascape plantings. As much as we are each quite different in our approaches, the fact remains that we both care a lot about how our properties look. I drive down to their property almost daily and stay aware of aspects of their garden and they walk Rex by our property and are always looking out for what’s happening in ours. It’s a very cooperative and supportive relationship in that regard.
As our front property has morphed over the past few years, some of the large shielding plantings like the sumac bush between the road and our play area that shielded the view of the play area, have gone away and been replaced by trees that do a bit of shielding, but leave the play area more visible from the road than not. I do not really mind that look since the Palo Verde trees do a nice job of providing shade and framing the scene. The colorful Adirondack chairs and benches that I have set around the play area give it a very fun look and feel, and that works nicely and has an inviting aspect to it all. But when you come up onto the play area, now that it’s been in place for four seasons,its showing its age. The plastic mini-golf elements have faded or gotten a bit tattered on the edges. But mostly, the problem with the play area has been which I chose to ignore when converting it from a simple dog run installed for good old Cecil a dozen years ago and then made into the play area by me (and Handy Brad) five years ago. When I remade it I spent a lot of money on it and yet specifically and with forethought (ill-fated that it has proven to be) did not go through the process of leveling the playing field as Handy Brad (a.k.a. Mr. Perfectionist) wanted. I thought (wrongly) that a slight slope would make for more interesting and challenging play. What I ended up with was a largely dysfunctional play area that the kids find too frustrating to manage. I catch consistent shit from everyone about it, including my sweet Kim, who thinks that I should fix it.
Now that I feel the need to renovate the play area, I am considering how best to fix the leveling problem without breaking the bank to do so. The kids are all getting older and I am less convinced that just leveling the surface will suddenly make this a big attraction that gets lots of use. About the only kids that do get lots and lots of use out of the play area are the next door neighbor kid (soon to be kids, when the new arrival can walk). Their home does not have a play area, so their parents and mostly their grandparents (who visit regularly from Nepal) use the play area almost daily. I am happy to see it get used, but I can tell from the way golf balls, bocce balls, putters and plastic discs are left randomly laying around the play area that the use of the play area is in a manner that obviates the need for the surface to be level. It is all used as sort of one big playroom rather than a mini-golf course, a bocce ball pitch, a disc golf hole, etc.. As you can probably tell from the foregoing, I feel a change is in order for several reasons. The challenge, that I just spent time with Handy Brad discussing, is how to do this.
As I have already mentioned in a prior story, I have decided that croquet is a better and more “mature” game to be played on the play area. First of all, it represents a change of pace, and I also feel like I can do that simply enough on the play surface I have…if I can level the playing field. I’m not sure I can fix the random and wanton abuse of my toys by my neighbors (something that I think is less intentional and more culturally-based…I’m guessing yard aesthetics are less important in Nepal), but I think this rehabilitation of the play area into a more or less level croquet pitch will be a boon not only to the usefulness of the play area, but even to the curb appeal of the property overall.
Handy Brad brought his big 10-foot aluminum leveling planks over so we could get a bead on the amount of work needed to accomplish the task. We determined that there is approximately a 14-inch drop side-to-side (West/East) and about a 12-in drop lengthwise (North/South). Handy Brad tried using his laser sight level, but has to come back in the evening when it can be easier to see and mark the proper elevations. We have decided that since the exact dimensions of the pitch are irrelevant (A true croquet pitch needs to be 72’x40’ and we are nowhere near those dimensions), we will bolster the rail sides of the pitch by adding 2”x14” treated lumber in 12’ or 16’ lengths (as available) for the circumference. That will require about 130’ linear feet and will be placed inside the existing 2”x6” rails that exist there already. By having the edging twice as thick, I believe it will hold up to the leveling task that much better since we will need to add extra decomposed granite (DG) to the surface in addition shifting the existing bed of material from west to east and from north to south. Handy Brad and I are estimating (to be laser confirmed this week) that we will drop the high sides by about 6” and raise the low side by 6-8”. I have already lined up Omar and his cousin to be available for the next two weekends to make this all happen. Handy Brad is ordering the lumber and next Saturday we will lay that down along the proposed new level sight-lines. Then we will roll back half of the 60’ of turf and level first one half the pitch and then the other half. I will buy several super bags of DG to fill in and hopefully that will suffice. I don’t expect this to happen in one weekend, but perhaps two will do the trick.
Once the pitch is leveled, we will repaint the turf with special astroturfing green spray paint and then set out the new croquet course wickets and replace the pots and metal sculptures. With any luck we will bring the troops home for Easter…at least I will do my level best to do so.