The story of our bobcat excavation adventures may not be an epic children’s book, but it certainly seemed to never end. Yet it’s done and ready!
I think I could write a new children’s book: If you give a man a bobcat…. he will ask to dig up the whole yard.
Ok. So maybe it wouldn’t be quite on par with the books by Laura Numeroff, but I felt a little bit like the kid in her stories this past summer.
The epic tale began when my husband needed to prepare a space for our new patio. We needed to dig out some dirt and spread gravel to create a good foundation for the concrete. I totally agreed that we needed a little help. Luckily we had a friend who was willing to lend us his bobcat.
The Tale Begins
The bobcat was amazing. My husband dug up a couple of stumps, leveled the dirt in the area, and spread the gravel to make the foundation for our stamped concrete patio. It was great! In a couple of evenings, the work was done.
He came in the house afterwards and uttered those famous last words. “You know. Since I have the bobcat…. maybe we should take out the bushes in the front of the house.”
I wanted to take a moment, just in case you are hopping in for the first time, to catch you up on our little adventure. We are in the process of remodeling an old colonial house built in the late 1800s. (You can click here if you want to read more about our house.) It was once a well landscaped, grand and modern eye catcher. When we purchased it, however, it was catching people’s eyes for the wrong reasons.
The house was rundown, the indoor pool was ruined, and the landscaping had taken over the yard.
It was our intention to do A LOT of work on the yard. However, we weren’t really ready to start that yet. We had so many other indoor projects started.
Yet, here was this bobcat. Available and waiting for us to use it. Of course I said, “Why not?”
Epic Tale of Bobcat Excavation
The monster bushes in the front of the house were no match for the bobcat. Neither was the grass. Within a weekend, our front lawn was turned into dirt, the bushes were gone, and the work was done.
Or, so I thought…..
My husband came in after he was done and said, “You know. Since I have the bobcat….. Maybe we should take down the huge bushes on the side of the house.”
It was at this time that I did remind him that we would have to re-seed the whole yard.
But the use of the bobcat was too good to pass up. So, of course I said YES.
At the beginning of spring we had a grass lawn (actually, it was mainly weeds, so ripping it all out wasn’t too bad of a deal). Now we have a dirt yard and a lot of work ahead of us.
We can actually see the house now that the big bushes are pulled down, so that is a bonus!
I hope our next book: If you give a man some grass seed… he will plant the whole yard will be just as epic of a tale. Until then, we won’t have to mow nearly as often!
What landscaping projects have become bigger than you anticipated? Do you have any epic tales of your landscaping adventures?
After our big bobcat excavation project, we did succeed in planting some grass. If you are interested in the technique we used, you can read about how to plant grass seed in the Midwest here.
