Do you know whose backyard this is?

If you guessed ours, you are right!

Backyard Update: Some People Never Give-Up

Although Tony gave-up on our backyard within 4 hrs last weekend, Fred and Chuck did not.

These are pretty tough men, and they thought they knew what they were getting into. At the end of the 1st day they said, "It was a lot harder than we expected. But we're not like most guys...we'll be back tomorrow."

And so they were. Three days later, all of the decks are gone, 1 possum mother and 2 babies have been forced to relocate, and there is about 5-6 tons of wood waiting to be hauled off next week. Fred and Chuck will probably rent a U-Haul.

Backyard updates will be temporarily postponed. Off to China tomorrow!

CRAIGSLIST: HOT SPRINGS SOVEREIGN HOT TUB

Hot Springs Sovereign Hot Tub - $500 (Peachtree City, GA)

Sovereign Hot Springs Hot Tub for sale for $500, bought new in 2002 for $8000

This hot tub came with the purchase of our house, and we were told the heating element does not work. We have never tried to fix it or run it, and it is currently empty of water. Needs to be cleaned, but otherwise in good shape.

Seating Capacity 6 adults
Dimensions 6'8" x 7'9" x 33"H/2.03m x 2.36m x .84mH
Water Capacity 355 gallons/1,344 litres
Weight 713 lbs./323 kg dry; 4,724 lbs./2,143 kg filled*
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Our backyard plan is to remove all of the decks and plant grass on the ground level, and keep it as pine straw and wooded on the top of the retaining wall.

After 2 1/2 years of debate, Greg and I decided to sell our inherited hot tub in accomplishing this backyard plan. The fact that we had never even tried to see if it worked, and we never wanted to pay any money to a) fix it and b) maintain it, pretty much made the decision for us.

Oh yeah, and because Tony, the previous owner, told us he liked to sit naked in his hot tub.

So we sold it on Craigslist, within a few hours, and the people came out the next day to take it. We did not think they were going to get this 700 lb hot tub out of our backyard with the few people they had helping, but they did. I'm pretty sure Greg is doing all the work holding that tub up - look at the strain on his face!

Pushing it through the gate...


You're gonna put that hot tub on this tiiny little Toyota Tacoma?

I didn't think it was possible, but here is the evidence.

Beverly Hillbillies, anyone?

CRAIGSLIST: FREE DECK WOOD

FREE DECK WOOD, BUT MUST UNASSEMBLE DECK (Peachtree City)

We are removing 2, possibly 3, decks in our backyard. The wood and attached hardware are all yours if you are willing to remove the decks. We do not know the age of the wood, but the house was built in 1996 and the decks were built after that. It was pressure-washed two years ago, but we do not know anything else about the maintenance of the wood.


•Location: Peachtree City
•it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
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It's true, the time has come to work on the backyard. First step, remove the decks. Now I know some of you are heartbroken that our Swiss-Family-Robinson-On-Crack-Backyard is going to go, but imagine if you had to maintain all of that wood.

My brother suggested I list my decks on Craigslist after he got rid of his that way. I had 5 hits within an hour, and had to remove the posting immediately.

Who wouldn't want a piece of this?

A man named Tony was the first to respond. Now the man who built all of these decks in the first place was named Tony, so we feared that he had found us out and was calling to yell at us. But it wasn't. Craigslist Tony came out with his boys last Saturday and began working away.

About 4 hrs later he called Greg (we were in TN) and said, "I'm really sorry, but I'm giving up. The man that built this deck built it to stay. If a tornado ever comes through, your house may be gone but the deck will still be here."

He did get the bridge partially removed, and the angel is now off the blue concrete cylinder.

So I called Fred, the next guy on the list, and he came and checked it out yesterday and says he can definitely remove it. He will be starting Wednesday, and plans on taking it ALL. Yes, ALL of the wood. I said, "Are you building a deck or a house?"

What to do with the angel...now that's a problem. Here are some options:

Craigslist ad to the highest bidder

White elephant gift next Christmas

Bonus gift to the men who remove our concrete

But the one I'll probably do - hide it somewhere in the backyard and every few years we'll stumble across it and laugh.

Did you say you like them "well-done"?

Funny story: Tuesday we had the missionaries over for dinner. After a series of completely random unforseen events which involved picking up a woman from our ward that I didn't know whose car broke down on the northeast side of the perimeter, finding out she is from Greg's ward in Oak Ridge and knows his parents, inviting her and her family to come to dinner along with the missionaries telling her I would have plenty of food, I arrived home at 6:30, right when the missionaries were supposed to arrive. Luckily Greg was behind schedule as well, and he arrived home the same time as I did, turned on the grill, and left to go get the missionaries.

Greg instructed me, "Put the hamburgers on the grill."

Sure, no problem, I thought. Except for when I went to the freezer there were NO hamburgers. Greg and I had a major communication problem (our first in 4 yrs) and I hadn't realized he had already cooked away the stash of frozen hamburgers I had gotten.

So I ran across the street to Kroger's, and got 2 boxes of the nice Bubba burgers. You know the ones...those expensive, but wonderfully fabulous Bubba burgers.

I got home and put those burgers on the grill, just as instructed, and then went back into the house and started making a salad with my new friend from the ward that I had given a ride to.

About 10 minutes later I thought I should flip those burgers and my new friend mentioned, "Oh yeah, I noticed your hamburgers are on fire a while ago."

What the what????!!!!

I ran out to the grill, threw open the lid, and sure enough all 10 Bubba burgers were in flames. I'm not just talking a little bit of over-heating-- these hamburgers were literally on fire. And even after I turned off the grill, the burgers kept burning.

Greg of course dared the Elders and the 12-year-old boy to eat one of these for a dollar. The Elder gave up halfway through, but the 12-yr-old won his dollar!

And we all enjoyed Wendy's instead.