Impromptu Patio for $25

Speaking of impromptu projects: in a fit of madness, I grabbed a bunch of pavers from the side of the house and brought them to the back to the location of the future deck. Might as well practice and dabble with the size while the deck is still in the planning stage, right?

[Impromptu patio in progress]

Not much to look at right away, but what can you really expect from a 1hr, no money spent project? At least, it gives us a better idea of the size of the future deck.

Once that was out of my system, I hopped over to the store and grabbed a coil of no-dig edging for $15 and 3 bags of pea gravel for $3.50 each. Under the watchful eyes of Seamus, I spent another hour finishing our impromptu patio by framing it with edging and filling the gaps between the octagonal pavers with pea gravel for a more finished look before going to bed.

Florida summer nights are just as god-awfully hot as the days, the air like a thick viscous liquid, but at least there's no sun burning from the sky and frying your brains. It was far more pleasant than digging up the front yard on Sunday morning. More on that later! Of course I had to wait until the next morning for a couple of pictures so here you go:

[Just three ingredients: old pavers that came with the Duckling,

pea gravel and no-dig edging]

[Rainy early morning in Florida. Check out the background:
one of my canna lilies is fixing to bloom again!]

Glamorous? No, but it looks much more like a planned project than something I threw together on a whim and the price can't be beat. This will tide us over nicely until we have the funds, time and DIY drive to build a deck in its stead next year or the year after.