The Next Project - Outdoor Patio

In the midst of all my other happenings, I've started the next project -- making the outdoor patio using the round slabs we've been creating out of the tree trucks. This is going to be a slow project because its going to take time prepping the area and making the tree rounds. 

First step, remove the bushes and flatten the site. When we moved here, I created a flower garden here. I used large rocks (small boulders) to make a low wall and outline the site, I filled in the bowl with lots of compost, making a fertile soil mix. Now I want to reclaim the soil and use it elsewhere. Around here, soil is hard to come by. Burying good soil under a patio is insanity. Best not admit doing that for you're sure to be labelled a lunatic. Daft for sure. People would be horrified at such wastage. So I'm currently digging it all out and moving it to other gardens. 

Because the house is perched on the edge of a lava flow, there is no room to get heavy equipment in the scoop up the soil and flatten the area. And I truly mean "no room". Even a mini excavator couldn't make it. Thus this is a job to be done by hand.....my forte. Give me a pile of buckets, a handpick, and a shovel and I'll move this "mountain".   :) 

Gee, I hope all this exercise means that I'll lose a few pounds. This has got to be better than a membership to a health club.