Weekends are Relaxing? Really?

Weekends are usually associated with a day off, relaxing in the sunshine with the family, maybe even setting up the grill and cooking outside. My Saturdays are always spent at work, so my weekends are shortened to a single day anyway. Yesterday we decided to skip Renaissance Festival and work on the castle instead. It was a perfect day for it, the weather couldn't have been much better.

The blocks for the southern tier were placed and we adjusted angles
slightly until we had the curve we wanted. It needed to be echoed by
the second tier which is out of sight in this photo. 

Football games, at least the ones we wanted to follow, didn't start until later in the day. The Denver game wouldn't be on until 3:00 pm, and the Minnesota game was a night game, starting at 7:00 pm (both of our teams won, by the way). At 8:30 am we were outside looking at the preliminary layout of blocks for our southern tiers in the castle wall. After minor adjustments, we declared it correct and DH started burying the base blocks while I hauled building blocks over for the wall.

By the time we quit, this is what we had accomplished. The
base blocks in the first photo are below ground level, and we
had placed and blocked in five rows above that base in
a curve from the steps, around, and swinging off in a reverse
curve to the left. It actually swings around once more
before heading to the fence. 

We fell into a rhythm. He set the blocks down and back-filled, I pounded the dirt firmly between the blocks and behind them. With the exception of a couple of short breaks during the day, we pretty much went non-stop until about 4:30. Then we got cleaned up and went to Olive Garden for dinner before settling down to a relaxed evening. Just look at what we did. A LOT of hard work, but the yard is starting to really look good, now.

Here's how things are looking from the patio now. The steps are
pretty much in place, the walls on the right are almost complete,
and the walls on the left are in progress. We have the second tier on
the left still to do and things like capstones and such to install, but
we're almost to the point where we can face winter and rejoin the
project in the spring. We got a LOT done on Sunday. 

Chickie boarded her plane yesterday morning and as of last night, was on her way from JFK to Milaga in southern Spain. From there, she'll pick up her rental car and drive on to her final stop of Ronda. So I'm on cat duty for the next week+. My allergies won't appreciate it, but for some reason, the cats like to be fed and have their litter boxes cleaned out. I leave the brushing and playing to the night people, too much cat dander for me when I do that. I hope Chickie has a wonderful time, but I'll be really happy when she's back home again on the 27th.

Chickie is flying into Milaga, on the southern coast of Spain, then
driving more into Andalucia to Ronda where she'll meet up with
long-time friends for a week of fun. 

Have a wonderful Monday, all. I'm off to the pool to work off last night's pasta (but it was SOOOOOO good)!