Once Upon a Putting Green

BEFORE:
This was our hillside riddled with rats and slimy critters who found solace amongst the ivy. Time to go!

DURING:
Hillside gone, now it's time for a retaining wall. This is the end result. I spared all of you the nightmare that was the side yard (in shambles for many weeks) before the wall went up. I'd rather not go there.

I didn't capture the sandblasting that took place before the putting green turf was put down. It was too noisy and too dusty so I passed on taking pics. But here is the result after the turf had been laid (or is it layed?) Anyhoo, we had to spread 6 bags (weighing 100 lbs each) of fine sand on top of the turf. Then sweep the sand in between the loops of the turf. It was a lot of hard work. You had to wear a mask so the fine particles of sand would not get into your lungs or eyes. Tom got some in his eye.









He even enlisted my help in the matter. It was not as easy as I thought. I'm not cut out to manuver a broom. I wasn't sure what the heck I was doing.

All I knew was that I was pooped.

Once I regained my strength, I found a perfect spot to read my new book, The Secret. Have you heard of it? It's now out on DVD. I highly recommend it.

Tom says, "No more clowning around! There is work to be done, holes to be found!" What he didn't realize was that he covered up the holes he made the day before once he rolleld out the putting green turf. Now it was a scavenger hunt to find them.

We both kept punching and pushing the ground trying to find the holes. There were 5 of them. The putting green spans 70 feet, so needless to say, this took a while.

I thought it was funny. Tom...not so much.

Alas! I think I found a hole! I made sure to mark it.

And here's another! Pretty soon all the holes were found.

Then it was time for Tom to cut out the turf around the holes.

Steady now. Don't cut off a thumb!

Are ya still with me folks? Hang in there, I'm almost through with this post.

Time for the first putt. Tom and I had a contest to see who could nail the first hole in one. I let him win.

I sliced a few in myself.

Then it was time to stick in the flags and, viola! Putting green is finished!









24 hours later...Can you guess where my husband is???

It's nice to see he has a buddy to putt with. Although not many of the balls make their way down the green.









In fact, the majority of them end up in his buddy's mouth!









Now it's time to beautify the side yard with landscaping and flower boxes on top of the wall. I think around Christmas time I'll surprise Tom and get 5 mini Christmas trees complete with lights and golf themed ornaments to stick in the holes on the putting green. How cute would that be? It's only June and I'm already thinking about Christmas. I need to reel it in a little bit.