The Sidewalk that Kept Going, and Going...and Going!

Our big project of the summer, which we actually completed in April, was to put in a paver sidewalk from our driveway to our backyard. Seth planned, estimated, researched, and purchased all the stone and sand; he got a great deal, because the stones he wanted ended up on clearance at Home Depot, which saved us $400 - yea!

Seth dug out all the dirt in the areas we wanted the sidewalk to go. We weren't sure what to do with all the dirt (it was a lot more than anticipated), so he got a dumpster from our trash company. After the first time they dumped it, one of the people at the company called and left a message on our answering machine that said the dumpster had been too full, and that a wheel on it had broken off when they tried to dump it. Oops. After we paid to have dirt hauled away, we found out that Seth's brother, Lance, had paid to have dirt hauled in for a project he had been working on in his yard...shows that we need to communicate our plans with people.

Anyways, so our sand and stones arrive...6 pallets of stone, and a mountain of sand taking up our driveway. As I hadn't helped with the dirt digging, I promised I'd help with the stone laying. Turns out, I'm actually pretty good at it. Appeals to the anal-retentive analyst in me, I guess.
By the way, in case you're wondering, I'm not that much of a freak - I'm wearing a mask because Seth had to cut stones with his saw, and it created a cloud of dust that I didn't feel would be beneficial to inhale. The stone-cutting part was also an adventure - the first time, Seth tried a blade that was supposed to cut stone. What it actually did was wear away until it locked up his saw and basically broke it. He had to buy a new saw, and ended up buying a diamond-tip blade, which rocked. It cut the rest of the stones easily, and was worth the price.

We laid stone for a whole weekend...and we had barely used half a pallet. So, we laid stone after work all week...and we still had a lot of stone leftover.
We devised a plan to extend our original design...and we still had stone leftover. We went as far as we could, and got to the point where we would not have enough stone to do anything nice, so we stopped. I wore through 3 pairs of gloves, and my hips and back ached for 2 weeks, but it looks good and we don't have to wear shoes to take the trash out, so we're happy.
Thanks to Seth's mom and brothers for helping with the "patio" under the kitchen window. We had a bunch of big red stones from a little path we had put around the yard when we first landscaped 5 years ago. Not wanting to just toss them, Seth had the idea to use them on the east side of the deck. It turned out great!