Day 3 - Fireplace

Well I skipped a day as the week has been a bit hectic. So now to figure out what type of mantle to put up on the fireplace. Then installing the wood fireplace insert. So far is looking pretty good.


I was a bit hesitant as I was hoping more reds and blues would be in the rock, although after the moisture came out, it seemed to give it more color.

Leaf sucker

My roommate and I had a crazy idea and we could so see this on a comedy site. I bought a leaf blow and sucker, which I normally wouldn't get but you don't understand just how many leaves fall on our front and back yard. On the sucker piece they give you an ultra small bag that would fit maybe 1/50th of the leaves in the front. That would be insane! Sooooo, we had some extra dust collector tubing from the shop. We grabbed some duck tape and off we went.


After a little magical duck tape we got our invention up and running. The greatest thing about this concept, unlike paper or plastic bags you can really pack the cut up leaves to the bottom.


Packed and cut up leaves.


Imagine this whole yard with leaves... And then realize they all went into that bin. The chopping and packing definitely helped and provides a funny story. :)

Day 1 - Fireplace

Crazy Saturday, so all of the bricks down to the fireplace opening have been removed, cinder blocks were laid on top, and then finally were covered. This was from the huge crack in the middle of the fireplace (previous post shows) and could continue downward.


Fireplace brick, we are thinking we may clean these up a bit during the spring to build up a firepit in the back yard that hopefully a porch will be surrounding. We shall see how it goes.


This is after a day of drying. Hopefully Monday it will be dried so the next process can continue. You can sorta see where brick removal stopped and cider blocks were replaced. The piece of wood above is where we are going to hang a mantel (haven't decided what).

Day 0 - Fireplace

My roommate and I have been talking about putting a wood insert in for a long time, and finally I went down and spoke to someone on what is involved. This will be quite a project, so what better way but to document the process over the weekend. :) First project will be replacing the brick with river rock, so time for some destruction. 3:)

So the first image will be of Day 0 of the firecode hazard removal. Had it cleaned out last year so it has been prepped for the weekend's day of brick removal.

Halloween 2008

So every year a good friend and previous co-worker puts together a huge party and his front yard on display for all of Oregon to see. He has been in newpapers, news on the TV, and even fearnet. This year was crazy, there were so many people viewing the yard they had police guarding and blocking the road. All in all it turned out great. I have too many pictures to show just how great the yard really is, but here are a few.

To project just how large of a building, the skeleton at the door is 5-6 ft tall. The broken window above the door is animated with a ghost and with the window breaking.



There are about 60+ of these gravestones, but would take a number of pictures to show all of the funny and quirky gravestones. It is amazing how realistic they really look. I really liked this photo from the bloody skeletons hanging in the background.



This one is situated behind the large gate in the front of the yard. It shows how the little trickier treaters are treated when trespassing. ;) He has around 10 of these when entering the gate in the front.

All together it was an amazing yard and rated one of the best front yards in the states. Anyone interested should check out his website of www.davisgraveyard.com. If you check a few months before Halloween he has group leasons on how to create your own gravestones and number of other interesting events.