Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Outside There…

I’ve shown you a bit of inside There so now let’s take a stroll on some of the outside. 

4637 This picture was taken from the street corner looking back towards the house.  My s.i.l. Diane and I were talking about the small pond that Carol and I had built in the front yard.  It was coming on to fall and the mums planted by the gatehouse were coming on strong.

4634 This one was taken from our drive looking back at the pond.  Again you see the little gatehouse.  There was one on the other side of the street as well since our street was the main street into the neighborhood off one of the main streets into the downtown area of our town.

4638From the street looking back at the pond and the stream you can see how we stacked the individual rocks.  Carol and I would take off and drive down to Tulsa and go north on Memorial Road until we were in Bixby to a place called Hardscape Materials.  They had stacks and stacks of different rock that were priced for folks to pick from theirselves.   When we would drive into their drive we would go on a big scale that weighed us and whatever vehicle we were in and then we’d go get whatever rock we wanted, load it into our vehicle and then go back to the scale, weigh and go in and pay for whatever we got. 

Ninety percent of the rocks in this rock garden were picked because we could lift them. We did purchase a large rock and several that were almost as big as the “waterfall” rock, as we called it, and had those delivered and put into place by a bubba, but all the rest were picked and placed by Carol and me.

We decided to do a pond and rock garden in the front yard because the grass was crap.  We had planted both of the willows when they were smaller but they had grown enough that it was a fight to try to get the grass looking decent.  We had seen ponds around and decided we wanted to build a pond.  Neither of us had ever done it and so it was kind of a comedy of errors, but we toted rock, had a ball doing it and ended up with a decent little stream and a waterfall rock where the water would fall then into the pond.

This was back before I started taking pictures very much but I wanted to start with the pond.  We bought a half dump truck load of dirt, had it dumped on our driveway and Carol’s son (Jeff), our young man that helped me in the yard (Jon) and me would take a wheelbarrow load at a time and we built up from the ground because there were so many roots from the trees it was a bitch to try to dig a hole for the pond. Then we placed and mortared the rocks that we brought in from Hardscape.  Jeff would just shake his head at his mom and me when we’d take off and head to town to buy rock.

This was the beginning of what we built THERE, in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and some more of my story.  The place where I left most of my heart and a lot of sweat and a great deal of fun.

Since we are in the middle of yet another move from the country into town, Norman, the next few posts are going to be sporadic but I will try not to leave you hanging for more that a couple of days.

17 comments:

joanne said...

you and Carol put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into that house to make it your home and it is beautiful. I've never heard of anyone going back and forth to find rocks...I think that was a fab idea, and probably a great money saver. I can't wait to hear more of the story.
I am curious as to why you are moving to Norman so I will hang in there hoping you will let us know and that it will end up being a great decision. Take care Helen and give my best to Carol.

Brenda S Okie in Colorado said...

I can't wait either! Wish I was moving to Norman! Wouldn't we make great neighbors? Maybe someday. Helen, my entire front yard is rock scape. Medium river rock with granite edging and huge boulders. My flower garden is stacked moss rock. I didn't break a sweat though...had it all done by my husbands former construction crew. I admire you and Carol. Something tells me you are about to take this new place and make it your "There" place.

darsden said...

Wow, what a lovely place ya'll did blood, sweat and toil over! I know you have your hands full these days with the move. Waiting to hear the rest of this story but I am afraid it's going to break my heart for you, I can fell it coming. Anyway Helen, hope you are doing okay and could you send me your new address please.

Sharon Rose said...

Wow Helen, you certainly created a lovely place there! I cannot imagine having to leave there.

Be gentle with yourselves as you make this move. NO LIFTING heavy stuff!

Twisted Fencepost said...

You are breaking my heart! Why must you keep moving from the places you love? Woman you gotta settle down somewhere. And stop making me cry.
I can't imagine having to leave my farm. It would be Granny Clampett all over again! Drag me kicking and screaming!!!

Laura ~Peach~ said...

what a beautiful place...

farmlady said...

I don't know Helen. This story is getting more and more like a history of hard work and ..,then we moved."

I understand getting closer to town when you're older. We are starting to talk about this ourselves. Like us, you will leave a place of blood, sweat and tears. I really feel like these moves from a place that has your heart in it is the hardest thing to do.
Take care of yourselves and don't over due.

What's a Bubba?

Staci said...

Helen, I gotta tell you, I love your gardens, no matter where they are. And your room with the yellow walls and the green ceiling, I was showing it to my cousin who lives at Lookeba, (and who happens to have a sunroom that needs a facelift) and I think she wants to copy!

Unknown said...

I know how it is to leave a place you love! I had a great farm house, the best landlords and lots of great neighbors but was 35 miles one way from work and propane and fire wood was killing me so I decided to come in much closer and live the city life! I sure miss being out in the country, dirt roads, cows, everything! So I go visit family who have that and get my fix! Maybe you can do that as well. Getting closer to town is a good thing when bad weather comes in this winter. Hope you love your new place!

Reddirt Woman said...

JoJo, besides getting rocks we would usually go out to eat at one of our favorite restaurants in Tulsa. It did save quite a bit of money and it was fun to go and hand pick each of the rocks. It was espcially fun when we would drive the Chrysler which was one of the luxury editions. We would put 600-800 pounds of rock in the flooboards of the back seat and in the trunk and go weigh and pay $60-$80 buck and have had a lot of fun.

Brenda we will make it our "For Now" place because we are renting. Unless you own there is a limit to what you can do, not withstanding how much you want to do that you can't take with you.

Dar I'll send it next week when we get there. I haven't sent it out yet because no one is there to bring the mail in and don't want to chance anything being "taken" out of the box.

PS I already hit the wall once and had to be lazy for a whole day. Jeff is coming this evening and I'll use his muscle to move some of the yard stuff, especially the barrels we will plant in next spring.

Becky I didn't mean to make you cry. I just thought you all would like to see the things we did in B'ville and know that if you had the time, for a small amount of money the things even us oldies can do. And that life sometimes throws you a curve and doesn't work out "as planned". But you can go on.

Yep Laura it was a beautiful place and by the time we left it was even more beautiful.

Farmlady you pretty much hit the nail on the head, and then we moved. A 'Bubba' is a common term used down here and further south. He is someone who will do the work for generally less price than a company, generally has the britches and crack problem and thinks he knows how to fix and do everything whether he does or not. He usually, but not always, is 'not quite bright' in book larnin' but has a knack for doing things with his hands, whether taking a motor apart and putting it back together or adding a room on to the place. He will generally do plumbin' and electical work,'to boot' for a cheaper price. I'll do a Bubba post some day.

Staci I had a ball doing all my gardens but that garden room was my favorite indoor job that I've done in my life. I had enjoyed watching how the light changed on the plants and thinking about what could make that even better and the clear buttery yellow just did the trick for me. And the firey orange on the windows added pop and the sponged greens on the ceiling almost gave a peaceful arbor effect. And I love that you know someone that lives in Lookeba. Tell her I'll meet up with her and help her pick out colors if she wants... :-)

Ronda I do have my niece and her hubs that live out in Texas and she's been wanting me to come visit. She sent photos of her baby pot bellied pigs just last week and I want to go play with them. There's a couple of things I won't miss, for sure, and that's stickers and the muddy pot holed road to get to the black top.

Aleta said...

I love the rocks! When I saw the very first picture, that's what caught my eyes. How cool that ya'll were able to pick the ones that you wanted. And wow, that the two of you did this - amazing!

Reddirt Woman said...

Aleta, going and picking the rocks was great fun. Hardscape Materials had different piles of rock at different prices. Most of those came from the 10, 12 or 14 cents a pound piles. We were able to pick 'rocks with character' at least to us. We both also liked the rocks with lichens and rocks that had holes that we could plant small plants in. I could max out a BIG credit card at that place. In this series of posts I'm going to post some of their display water features. Just to make all of us yard idiots drool.

Robynn's Ravings said...

What a lot of WORK you did but I never did figure you for one that shied AWAY from hard work. I hope your new place brings you lots of joy and I'm lookin' forward to seeing what you do there. I'm glad it'll be a little more convenient for you. Wish I could help you tote boxes. I've moved 36 times so I know a thing or two about makin' things fit! Don't overdo it, Sass!

Reddirt Woman said...

Robynn I wish you were here to help me, too, but we'd probably be doing so much laughing that we'd be doing more laundry than moving...and you've moved at least twice as much as me.

hetty said...

Looks like you and Carol did a lot of work in B'ville! It looks great though! My husband and I have always loved rocks. We very seldom go anywhere and don't bring a rock home. I have a big pile of them outside. I am going to suggest we use them to make a pond!

Caution/Lisa said...

I, too, will wait for the rest of the story, but hope for a happy ending.

Debbie said...

From the little I've done with rocks, I know this is friggin back breaking work. I also know you'll miss it :( BUT...you know these damn things happen for a reason. What reason we don't know or either I missed it LOL

I moved 21 times in the Air Force so I GET it :)