STEPPING STONES

I'm not afraid to admit that I have A.D.D. because, contrary to popular belief, it often works to my advantage. Take this mornings walk with the dogs, for example. Finally after weeks of housebound activities because we were buried under three feet of snow, the rain last weekend washed it all away and paved the trail of our morning walk with new, exciting things to smell and explore (fallen branches, sprouting plants and many other signs of spring). As the dogs trotted through their new path sniffing everything along the way, my mind drifted to the path (or lack thereof) leading to our front door. While our big picture plan for the front entrance includes far too many steps to execute alone over coffee (new roof, new front porch, etc.) we still need a transitional place to land before we open the door on that project. So, what was meant as a quick exploration with a shovel to test if the ground thawed from its winter frost (and yes, indeed, it has!) led to my latest totally free project.

STEP TO IT!

Now, let me preface this with a definition of FREE: We ripped these stones out of another part of our yard, tossed them aside and I went hunting for them this morning. But, while not free to most, stones can be found at home improvement stores and my project would cost less than $10! After living in Southern California for the better part of my adult life, I am fascinated by the east coast weather. Three weeks ago we were under three feet of snow, and this morning it's 60 degrees with nothing white in sight! Because we had wild rain this weekend our ground is incredibly soft, so digging 2" to make space for the stones was an easy task. I set the stones making sure they were fairly level (I like the haphazard appearance) and filled in the cracks between with dirt from our yard. After stepping on the dirt and smashing it in with my hands to set it in stone, I swept away the excess dirt and stepped back to admire my work!

TIME TO COMPLETE TASK: 1 Hour, 20 minutes

COST: Free for me but stones are an average of $1/each at any home improvement store.

STRESS LEVEL: creating a happy trail: LOW