Jeff still has some more work he wants to do to shape those big dirt piles into planting beds, and there are several more plants to go into the ground, but we are mostly done with the front yard for the season.
When we purchased the house last year, there was this chimney that extended all the way up through the house from the basement and quite a bit taller than the house. It was the chimney that was used for the cooking stove when the house was built in 1912. Well, we're not so strict about being "period" that we were willing to back up to a wood stove, so this chimney was superfluous. So we removed it, in order to claim the space it was occupying for the kitchen remodel.
Most of the brick went into the dumpster, unfortunately, because when the workers removed the old chimney, they simply dropped the bricks from the top down to the bottom. But we saved whatever we thought was in good enough shape to reuse. And that chimney was converted into this pile.
The plan was for Jeff to cut a line in the cement so that when he broke the section next to it, it would break along that line. It mostly worked.
Then Jeff went through with a sledge hammer and digging bar to break up the cement for removal.
Jeff actually expected to get a bit further on this project yesterday, but it took so long to get the cement out of there.
Today we decided to find some help for Jeff; someone who could actually dig. We don't want to break Jeff.
Then they put in snap lock edging, and filled it with an inch and half of sand.Then we started laying the bricks.
And we continued to do that until the bricks started to run out and the rain really started to pour.
Obviously, we'll be cleaning bricks this weekend. We put down the cardboard in an attempt to keep the dog child off the sand; it probably won't work.
Shasta was extra cute tromping around in the dirt with her booties on. (It's funny how she walks when she's wearing them.)
Sharon appointed herself the task of calling around for the best prices for the gravel and sand and for the tool rental. Most everything should be ordered today and we should be set to have Jeff finish this project this week. Go Jeff!
We're actually planning to remove the existing cement and run the path all the way up to the front steps. But we need to borrow or rent a masonry saw and cut it along the new steps before Jeff starts pounding. It would be bad to mess up our newly installed front steps.
Holy cow, these gray bricks are hard to clean!! Now we know we didn't get our money's worth. Sharon spent several hours cleaning bricks today and cleaned 39!! Seriously, only 39. This is Sharon's tiny "finished pile."
We think the bricks are actually made from cement and they've got lots of pores that hold onto the failing mortar very well. Ironically, one of the best ways to clean the mortar off of them is to rub two bricks together, but they're about 5 pounds each and the muscles give out pretty quickly using that method. 
We probably paid too much given that they still need to be cleaned, but Sharon went and got her heart set on having a pattern like this one for the path and back patio.
Unfortunately, this huge rosemary plant was a bit of a fatality. Though, we are planning to root quite a few cuttings to plant elsewhere in the yard.
While he worked on that project, Sharon slowly chipped away at the brick pile. She removes the mortar much more slowly than Jeff can, but she did manage to clean off almost 100 bricks. Our "cleaned" brick pile continues to grow.
While our "dirty" brick pile is slowly shrinking. We're getting there.
Continuing his amazing productivity trend, Jeff (with some schlepping help from Sharon) spent about 3 hours scraping mortar off bricks today. We finally found the right tool and it makes this job much more doable. The package says it's a "Brick Set," which is basically a chisel designed for masonry. We think it's intended to break the bricks, but it works well at knocking mortar off them as well.
Two free ads on craigslist and an hour later the two hutches and the gutters are gone.
We're keeping the wood and bricks for future projects. We still need to rebuild a side fence, or hire someone to do it for us. It's been a real pain not having a fenced yard since March. 
He also started smashing up the driveway on the side to run a drainpipe for the gutter on that edge of the house.
After a while, our neighbor Adrien came over to give him a hand.
They ended up pulling out such a large amount of driveway because the tree roots had heaved it up and it was sloped toward the house. Having all that rain draining toward the foundation does not help keep the basement dry.
And now we have a large pile of cement blocks; many of the best ones will be used to make stepping "stones" around the yard. We are also hoping to reuse the huge piles of bricks on the property for a path up to the front door from the sidewalk.
Here's Jeff trying to dig around the huge walnut tree roots to run a channel for the rain. 
Shasta also tried to help. She was digging here.
Looks like it will work!
