Manapalooza III...and we still have power and water

Remember Manapalooza I and II? Of course you do. Jane's Addiction was there. Sound Garden was there. I was wearing tiny barrettes, a tiny t-shirt and Doc Martens. Curses, I've fallen into a mid-90s reverie again. MANapalooza. Must focus on MANapalooza...

Manapalooza I, if I can pull you back from fondly smiling about stereograms and Snapple, was the first 517 extravaganza involving Brian's arsenal of large power tools. During Manapalooza I, Brian and Woody brought down many of 517's scary looking dead trees with a symphony of chain saws.

Manapalooza II -- hey! I said come back from the mid-90s! Stop shivering at the thought of Blair Witch, it was a kid in a corner and a shaky camera -- brought Brian's skid steer to 517. Woody tooled around our yard, got rids of shed-sized piles of trash, and succeeded in demolishing our electric meter.

Manapalooza II.2 had its finale in an apparent face off between Woody-in-skid-steer and his father and Woody taking out our water main.

But today, after Manapalooza III, we were able to use our lights AND shower! Given, the entire extravaganza felt less "extreme" as a result. But I guess once you get central heating and air and an indoor kitchen, you go soft...in a domestic sense at least. Certainly not in a corporeal sense. Since September, Woody has lost 45 lbs and my first half marathon is just 2 weeks away. So we at 517 are becoming quite the hard bodies...or at least cardiovascularly healthy.

Manapalooza III brought Brian back to the house with skid steer in tow:

After Woody dropped Brian off back in G'ville, he set about leveling our yard. In a good way. First the giant rotting tree that a local yokel had felled in our backyard was moved onto the trailer for transport to the dump. (Note: the local yokel is not Brian. Brian is an expert at felling trees. This guy succeeded in taking out our neighbor's fence, crushing our wheelbarrow and destroying Woody's homemade saw horses...all for $150.)

View of yard before:

As you will remember, we decided to keep Alice mostly with the hope that, in her teething year as a puppy, she would in fact gnaw away the entirety of this tree. That didn't happen. Apparently she has more of a taste for dirty underwear and socks.

View of yard after:

You can also see here the impressive tracks made by the skid steer. By the end of the day, our yard looked like it did in the halcyon early days of our renovation:


Woody also spread out the large pile of mulch/chipped wood that our neighbor was kind enough to give to us. I am sure this was a great disappointment to the local squirrel population as they had carved out a number of cozy peat condos in it.

A look before:

A look after:

The billowy rows of mulch made me want to go out in the yard and roll around. That and the knowledge that the layer of mulch was thick enough that I wouldn't wallow in a) dog poop b) old auto parts or c) generally nasty sand. I told Woody he should do this every week so I never had to do a dog poo sweep of our estate.

Woody also dug out the space for our new outbuilding. We will finally be able to remove the air compressor from our bedroom and have a closet for things like clothes in the middle bedroom!

Woody in action:


The spot for the guest cottage, er, outbuilding:


Kenneth will be coming by on Monday to start construction!