i'm ready to

get stoned... or at least to have my backyard get stoned.  For the longest time I've been thinking about an extra space in our backyard.  Our patio is long enough but it's narrow and makes sitting and talking a little awkward.  For Christmas I decided to ask for a stone patio in our backyard.  I had it all planned that I wanted it going, as you walk out my back door, off to the right in a big empty spot.  And I wanted it round.  I went on Thursday and bought stones and now I'm waiting for them to come and dig up the grass.  I have decided to change a few things though.  The round patio will now be square and instead of going off to the right of the patio, it'll head straight off the back of the house.  Here are a few pictures:

This is one of the stones with the granite gravel.  I'll have granite gravel instead of grout.  This way, if I ever need to get under the patio or say, I don't know, move it to put a pool in, it'll be a lot easier.

This is standing and looking straight ahead at the area I'm dealing with.

Or when you're standing from the back porch, it would have been out over here.  It would've been a great spot but I had my doubts for a few reasons.  First of all, even though it's not right up on the neighbor's house, it's the closest spot to their bedroom window.  Our group can get a little noisy and I really don't want problems.  Another doubt I had was the fact that the gate and driveway are right there.  That means I just felt a little exposed.

So after looking around and measuring over the weekend, I decided to have the patio come straight off the back porch.  There are more trees around, it's further from the neighbor's bedroom window and it just feels like the right spot.

The plan was for them to start today but when I called around 10:00 to see if I'd miss them if I made a quick trip to the store, I found out I had plenty of time.  The main guy has been at the hospital with his daughter all morning.  Now it's looking like my roast will be done before they get here.  I'm not worried though.  It should only take a couple of days to complete and a week from now I might just be doing a post from my new patio.