Preparations for Casey and Tim's wedding, in our back yard...

I really don't know where to begin this story, as I can't really remember the exact date, or the exact circumstances when Casey formally announced to Sharlene and I that she and her fiancée, Tim, planned to marry. We knew it was coming, as Casey and Tim had been together for something-like seven years before they made the announcement, which is a lot longer than Sharlene and I had been together before we got married. I think it was in late 2005 or early 2006 when Casey told us that she was getting married, and she'd even tentatively set a date: June 23, 2007.

Left: I've been given the order, so now it's my job to install edging and borders before the grass is planted. Right: Irrigation and shrubs are ready to be installed. I had time out of my "engineering duties" to snap this photo? The grass will be planted to the left to the photo.

When your daughter announces to you that she's getting married, it's a hugs-and-kisses event, to be sure, and an event that calls for lots of smiles, pats on the back, and maybe a barbecue or family get-together to celebrate the announcement. So far so good, right?

In American society, it's custom for the parents of the bride to foot the bill for the wedding. Note to prospective parents: Plan to have all boys, so you can leave all of the wedding hassle, work, and expense to your soon-to-be in-laws... Initially, Sharlene and I sat around and talked about it, and I mentioned to her that we had a very romantic wedding in Reno, as the whole affair took place at a wedding chapel, and it was over with in about 15 minutes. Now that's my idea of romance!

So I surfed the Internet and checked out a few Reno wedding packages, and I found, what I thought to be, several nice wedding packages in the price range of around $600.00, including chapel time, minister, flowers, photographer, keepsakes, etc. So let's see, we pay for that, plus we pay for a couple of nights in a really nice hotel suite, throw in money for food, gas, gambling, and the whole package comes to a generous donation of $2000.00. Doesn't that sound generous to you, for a one-time event? To me, that seems overly-generous, and bordering on extravagant, as I still think the 5 minutes before the justice of the peace is the most romantic wedding that I could ever imagine. But the girls seemed to have other ideas, and when a mom and a daughter align themselves against you, you have no choice but to haul up the flag of surrender.

So other ideas and options were explored, but the final solution came down to holding the wedding in our back yard, since our house sits on almost a quarter acre, and having the main functions, e.g., food, photography and disc jockey catered. So we reached a compromise between do-it-all-yourself, and cater the hard stuff, but allow yourself, your friends and family do the easy stuff. So we chose the middle road and settled on some of the stuff farmed-out to professionals, and the rest we'd take care of ourselves.

Photos: The crew is preparing our back yard for the new lawn, while conditioning the top soil and installing the new sprinkler system.

So in January of 2007, I don't remember the exact day, Casey and Tim set the exact day of their wedding, in stone, as June 23, 2007. Now we had a deadline, and a timeline to meet.

Like just about everything that happens, and is drawn upon the battle lines in our household, Sharlene and I decided that she would be in charge of the interior stuff, and I'd be responsible to get the back yard, and the exterior of our house ready for the wedding. Why didn't that come as any surprise to me? We basically gave a cart blanche treatment to Casey, and told her to pick the caterer, the photographer and disc jockey of her choice, the table and tent renting outfit, and we'd foot the bill. Actually, I suggested a live band, as I have a buddy that leads a local band, which specializes in country music, which is the music of choice in our family, but Casey preferred a disc jockey. It was her day, and it was her choice all of the way.

It was up to Casey and Sharlene to arrange for the photographer, disc jockey, caterers, purchasing the wedding decorations, sending out the invitations, and all of that other stuff that occurs behind the scenes. Not to mention that Casey registered at Target and Bed, Bath and Beyond, for wedding gifts, in order to make it easy so guests could purchase gifts online, and have them mailed to our house. While Sharlene and Casey took care of all of the intimate details of the wedding, my job was to prepare the back yard, and the outside of the house for the big event.

Left: Two and a half pallets of sod were dumped on our driveway. Right: These guys shovel topsoil into wheelbarrows to be spread onto our back yard.

Fast forward to April, 2007, and our back yard was only about two-thirds landscaped, and the area where the wedding was supposed to take place was only dirt. Backing up to November, 1998 when we bought the place, we only purchased a plot of dirt, as the house was non-existent. When we moved in, back in May of 1999, the back yard was still dirt, and just needed a whole lot of landscaping. I worked on and off four a couple of years, and had installed watering, electricity, sidewalks, and landscaping to about two-thirds of the back yard. The remaining third, which I refered to as "the way back yard" was mostly used for a garden to grow vegetables. Sharlene noted that I ceased interest in a back yard garden back in 2004... ("I'm too tired, honey...") and as she put it, "It's just ugly dirt." True, but all I had to do is spray RoundUp on the weeds ever couple of weeks, and the back yard took care of itself. Correctly, Sharlene had observed that I'd ceased interest in a vegetable garden, and now nagged at to install borders, bushes and most importantly, plant grass so a wedding could take place in the back yard.

Before planting grass, I had to install borders, so I got out my measuring tape, measured what I had to do, and then went down to the local hardware store to purchase edging, stakes, and additional irrigation line. I spent a total of three days installing the borders, with the first day spent doing nothing but the engineering work, which is a fancy name for leveling small hills and rearranging dirt by the wheelbarrow full. At the end of the three-day ordeal, borders had been installed, the irrigation was complete, and bushes were growing out of the bare ground. I needed to spread around a couple of yards of bark to complete the job, so I hired a local landscaper, Delta Landscaping Service, run by a gentleman by the name of Hai Nyugen to do the job for me. Hai came out and measured the area in a matter of minutes, and gave me a very low-ball estimate on the spot, so I hired him as the man for the job.

Tuesday morning, April 26, 2007, Hai showed up at our place with two other guys, and a trailer full of landscaping equipment. They quickly went to work, with one guy leveling the dirt with a huge roto tiller, one guy shoveling new topsoil on top of the freshly tilled soil, and another guy hooking up the new irrigation. Fortunately, when I installed the irrigation system years ago, I had the foresight to allocate two circuits for the now-defunct vegetable garden, and I had installed risers rising every 10 feet, from the main 1" water line. So it was easy for Hai and crew to tap into the existing lines, and install new risers heads, as needed, for the new lawn.

Late in the morning, Hai took off, and returned with a trailer loaded with two full pallets of sod, and another pallet partially full. Then, the crew took a break, and ate lunch under the shade of our gazebo. I got a laugh, as the guys enjoyed a lunch of Vietnamese take-out food, but since Hai and crew are of Vietnamese descent, I suppose it is protocol for them to enjoy a fine lunch of Vietnamese cuisine. I know how much I love Vietnamese food!

After lunch, it was back to work, but they had the sod in place in a little over two hours, and they'd cleaned-up and left our place by mid-afternoon. I was in awe, not only of what an inexpensive price I paid, or the outstanding quality of work performed, but by how little sod was left over; about a 2 by 3 foot piece! These guys know their stuff, and they make the most out of the old saying, "Waste not, want not."

Left: Our guys from Delta Landscaping deserve a break, as they relax on our gazebo to enjoy a lunch of Vietnamesee cuisine, a favorite of theirs, and mine. Right: It's back to work, as the job consists of leveling out the back yard and bringing on the sod.

The lawn grew like it was meant to grow, and after we watered it on a daily basis for the first week, and during the first week, the grass grew to about 6 inches high. Three weeks after the lawn was planted, it was mowed for the first time, and with the grass being nearly a foot tall, our regular gardeners had a rough time with it the first time they had to cut it. I sort of felt sorry for them, but it was better them than me, as that's what we pay them for.

While all of this back yard landscaping activity was taking place, Sharlene and Casey weren't idle, as they were attending to the hundreds of large and small details that make for a successful back yard wedding. They performed large tasks, such as getting Casey registered at Target and Bed, Bath and Beyond, hiring a caterer for the barbecue meal to be served after the ceremony, arranging rentals of the big top tent, tables, tablecloths and chairs, hiring a disk jockey, hiring a photographer, and the gigantic task of addressing and mailing the 75-something wedding invitations. Finding a minister can be difficult, but for us it was easy, as we have a co-worker, by the name of Larry Sutter, who is an ordained minister, who agreed to marry Casey and Tim. Sharlene and Casey were fortunate to receive lots of help from Tim's grandmother, Sandy; without her help, I doubt whether we could have pulled the whole thing off as smoothly as we did.

After the landscaping was completed, Sharlene commented that I should extend the concrete from the existing sidewalk leading to the shed, to meet the grass, in order to make it easier on our gardeners, and during the day of the wedding, to make it safer for our guests. You see, there was a patch of two feet or so of loose rocks between the existing sidewalk and the new lawn, and it could pose problems for our guests, particularly some of the older ones. By the tone in Sharlene's voice, I knew she meant business, so I told her I'd do it the following weekend, as I had a three-day weekend off from work.

If you've ever poured concrete, you'll probably agree with me that it's easy on the brain, as there is hardly anything critical about it, but it's hard on the back, and a lot of work. Concrete is quite everlasting, so you want to take care in constructing your forms, as everything must be perfect, and you must get it right the first time, as there are no second chances. Again, I took a trip to the local hardware store, and purchased wood for forms, and rebar for strength, and then spent a very pleasant afternoon in the back yard, constructing the forms for the concrete. By the time I finished, everything was plumb, level and straight, thanks to a lot of hard work, a level, a straight board, and a bit of string.

Left: Sod is placed in our back yard to form the perfect lawn. Right: Six hours ago it was dirt, and now, we have a perfect back yard lawn, thanks to the good folks frrom Delta Landscaping.

After the forms are in, the next step is to figure out the volume of concrete that you'll need. Concrete is always measured in cubic yards, or fractions of a yard, and if you have anything other than a simple rectangle to pour, your high school geometry will get a workout. The actual formula to figure out how much concrete you need is very simple, but you have to measure the area accurately, and then plug in the figures to get the proper volume. If it's just a simple rectangle, a person with a fourth-grade education could figure it out, but in my case, there was a pie-shaped part, and a part that was shaped like a morphed-out trapezoid. Geezzzz! So I got out my measuring tape, found my calculator (no, I deserted my slide rule long ago...) removed the cobwebs from my high school geometry, and figured out that I needed to pour .31 yards of concrete. Well the rule in concrete is to add about 5%, as its better to have too much than too little, so I figured an even 1/3 yard should do the trick. But since concrete is sold in yard increments, I had to purchase 1/2 yard of concrete mix, but I told the guy to go easy on the mix, so I think it was a skinny half yard.

Since I was doing such a small amount, I elected to just purchase the concrete mix (sand, rock and gravel) and two 96-pound sacks of Portland cement, which supplied the required 2-cubic feet of Portland cement, to get the concrete to stick together. I had the front loader just dump the concrete mix into the bed of the truck, and I just drove it home and backed it as far up the side access into the back yard, and basically used the truck for concrete mix storage. By this time, it was late afternoon, and I didn't feel like pouring the concrete, as collapsing in my recliner with a cold beer by my side seemed like a better idea.

Friday morning, June 8, 2007, I was up and at 'em early, as the plan of the day was to pour the concrete. Here's how the sequence went: Shovel concrete mix from the truck into the wheelbarrow, push the wheelbarrow to the job site, add Portland cement, add water, stir, add water, stir, stir, add more water, and stir, stir, and stir a whole lot more. When the concrete was thoroughly mixed with water, and about the consistency of runny pancake batter, I'd dump it into the form, and then spread it around with a hoe to evenly distribute it, and to ensure that every crevice was filled with the sloppy concrete. After three wheelbarrow loads, the first section was ready to level with a board, serving duty as a screed, and then smooth and finish, using a wood float, a magnesium float, and an edger. The other section was finished in the same manner, and when it was all said and done, I had about a wheelbarrow load of concrete mix left over, so my calculations were right on the money. After everything was cleaned up and put back together, a quick trip to the dump helped me get rid of the extra concrete mix, along with a long-neglected load of household discards. Anyway, after it was all said and done, the concrete was pronounced a success.

Sharlene and I had been discussing for quite some time about how to clean the concrete and the exterior of the house, and Sharlene also strongly recommended that I paint the gazebo, which is task that I hate, as its a mind-numbing, dirty, time-consuming chore, and its a lot of work to do, with little to show for the effort. There's only one solution for cleaning concrete and the exterior of your hose, and that's a pressure washer, and I checked into renting one, and the price was around $50.00 a day, and there was no way that I could do all of the necessary work that our place required in a day, or for that matter, in a week, so after adding up the dollars and cents, I drove over to Sears, as they had a 2700 p.s.i. gas-powered pressure washer on sale for Father's Day. What the heck, as I'd been lusting for a pressure washer for a long time!

Left: Sharlene assists Paris in fitting his "little boy" slacks. Right: Now, she buttons up his suit. Paris was given the duty of the ring bearer in Casey's wedding, a duty in which he performed well.

After I got my new toy home, I was dying to try it out. What better guinea pig could you find than the gazebo, which had to be cleaned before being stained. So I loaded up the cleaning tank in my new pressure washer with all-purpose detergent, fired the thing up, and went to town. I won't bore you with all of the details, but the task of preparing the gazebo for painting previously had taken 3 days, thanks to the pressure washer, it was cleaned and ready to mask after only a couple of hours. So how did I live without a pressure washer for so long?

After things had dried out, I spent the remainder of the day masking the gazebo, the hot tub, and the concrete, in preparation of painting the next day. When I say painting, I don't mean painting paint with a paint brush, as if I was to attempt that with our gazebo, it would take me at least a month to complete the job. I stain the gazebo, with stain sprayed at 28 pounds per square inch, from a professional air gun, attached to my 60-gallon air compressor. One of my friends had recommended Superdeck Brand Products Transparent Stain and Seal, and I was very hesitant to purchase the stuff at $26.99 a gallon, I was a bit hesitant to spend the money, and I'm glad that I took his advice, as I covered the entire gazebo with one gallon, as opposed to the 3 gallons I'd used from the $14.99 gallon stain that I'd purchased for previous occasions. Superdeck covered the whole thing well using only one coat, and left the gazebo shrouded in a beautiful, faux-redwood color.

I had scheduled a weeks vacation before the wedding, but it wasn't really a vacation, as it was a week of cleaning, planting flowers, coordinating things between Sharlene, Casey and I, and attending to a lot of last-minute details. Monday, June 18, I did manage to take a day off, and visit the U.S.S. Hornet museum, in Alameda, and take in some fine Oakland, California, dining. But when I returned on Tuesday, June 19th, it was back to work with the pressure washer, cleaning the exterior of the house, and all of the concrete.

Can you believe it that the next two days all I did is pressure-wash the exterior of the house, and scrub the concrete patio, rv-access, driveway, and the sidewalk? The powerful pressure washer managed to reach to the second story of the house, and even do a decent job of cleaning the windows, so it definitely paid for itself. As I mentioned earlier in this article, as a homeowner for many years, I don't know how I survived without one.

Left: Paris is fitted into his suit, much to Sharlene's pleasure. Right: Sharlene makes a final adjustment to Paris's suit, as Jacquie checks her stocks on a laptop computer, connected to our wireless L.A.N.

In addition to myself, Sharlene had taken vacation, as she was in the mode of preparing the house for the wedding, and helping Casey attend to the last minute details, to make sure that everything was taken care of. Actually, Sharlene and I were physically, and mentally tired, as preparing your home for a wedding, and getting it ready for 70+ guests, is a big job. Although we had, technically a week's vacation from work, our week, of June 17 to 23rd, 2007, was anything but a relaxing vacation from our real work.

All was well, as all of the "i's" had been dotted, and the "t's" crossed, until the Thursday before the wedding, when the air conditioning system in our house conked out without warning! To me, that's not a big deal, as, hey, we live in the Sacramento Valley, and it gets hot, real hot, in Roseville during the summer. For Casey's wedding, we were expecting many guests that call the San Francisco Bay Area home, where it rarely gets hot, and especially for the older guests, having to endure a hot afternoon in Roseville was not an option. However, all was not lost, as we'd already had an appointment with the company that takes care of the air conditioning and heating systems of our house, as the were to come out the next day, Friday, to install a blanket on the air conditioner condenser, which sits on the patio, and is a continuous source of noise, to muffle some of the noise the unit produces while its doing its job.. When we related our pediment to them, they brought out the necessary tools, and were able to jury-rig our system to work, after diagnosing that we had a blown-out damper motor on our first-level air conditioning system, downstairs. They were able to jury-rig it so everything operated from the upstairs unit, so all we had to do was to order a new motor to power the downstairs unit. Problem solved, now its time to grab a little rest, until the day before the big event.

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