I first declared Day 1 of Project Back Yard, oh, almost two years ago now. So long ago that a goofy image I hotlinked in the post is gone.
I am here to try this again.
It turns out to be kind of a bad time for me to be taking on a house project, money-wise. Between the last gasps of my student loans, repairs to my 9-year-old car, and bedbug extermination fees (did I mention I had bedbugs?? I had bedbugs.*), I’m feeling a bit squeezed. But then I go outside, and…
Yeah, that’s no good. The time has come. And I figure it’s probably better to be a little cash-poor now and make it up over the summer than tackle this job in August when it’s 98 degrees and a billion percent humidity. So the fence guy is coming out to give me some quotes today. The plan is to pay for that job, and then DIY the rest (planter boxes, deck tiles, maybe some built-in seating if we’re feeling exceptionally competent with the power tools.)
Who knows? Maybe by June I’ll be sipping mojitos in my own private back yard oasis.
Until the mosquitos find me.
* A note on bedbugs: they are insanely easy to get, but there’s still a lot of stigma around getting them. Having bedbugs doesn’t mean you’re dirty, or poor, or careless, or anything else. Even The Wall Street Journal had them!
That doesn’t mean you have to tweet your head off about it like I did, but know you are not alone.
You can beat bedbugs, although I wouldn’t recommend trying to do it yourself. There is no Easy button when it comes to dealing with these incredibly well-adapted little assholes. They are very, very good at hiding. I hired professionals and it took 3 rounds of spraying my house’s teeny cracks before the job was done (and thanks for being so thorough, Point Pest). Just spend the money, if you can. I know it sucks. It’ll feel like insult on top of injury. But consider it a civic good deed. Getting them exterminated the right way keeps them from spreading.