Building a walkway, and plant of the day

     One of the interesting things we do outdoors is the building of structures.  We try to use recycled materials for our building projects, and today's materials came from a variety of sources.  We used recycled concrete blocks from our neighbor, old bricks from the Daly building in Eureka which we sourced when it was being torn down, and even old rusty screwdrivers left here by the previous occupants of the house 12 years ago.
     We are building a landing and walkway for my mother who is coming to live with us soon.  She turns 93 on June 1st, uses a walker for mobility, and needs a level area to get into and out of vehicles.  Our yard is anything but level!  We set out to construct a place in which she could easily get out of a car and walk to the house.  Illijana designed the plan, and did a majority of the work.  I helped with the manual labor.  While the project is not yet complete (we are still figuring out an edge for the front border) the pictures will give you an idea of the project. (Click to enlarge them.)

Moving the concrete blocks

The first job is moving the blocks to the desired location.  They are heavy!  We use a dolly to transport them up the hill to the landing.

Loading block onto dolly

Sometimes the blocks need some of their previous mortar taken off if they are to be level.

Hammer and chisel work

We set them in place after preparing each section of ground, and then pack the pieces with gravel, chips of previously used mortar, or whatever will work to keep them in place (we are not using new mortar for this process.)  The edges which have bricks are held in place by the old screwdrivers sunk into the ground as a stake.

Steps added to the right

We still need to figure out how to add a pressure treated and then painted piece of wood to the edge, basically to protect the car tires.
     Plant of the day - I intend to add the picture of one or two plants each day to this blog.  These are plants which are growing in my yard the day of their photo.  Today we have one of my favorite flowers, the tall spire of foxglove (Digitalis purpurea).

I love it for its height and the amazingly attractive interior of each flower.

Also growing today after some initial difficulty with the cold are two different zucchini plants - a yellow zucchini and a green one.

Can you tell which is which?
On tap for tomorrow: transplanting the winter squash to their permanent summer homes.