A hobbit-hole in my backyard? It may sound crazy, but I can tell you that my kids love it. It is the coolest playhouse ever. Plus, they can enjoy the grassy hill for sledding in winter and water sliding in summer. This was all my wife's idea. She dreamt it, and I got to be the one to bring it to reality. I'm not a construction expert; this was a total do-it-yourself job by a complete amateur. It has turned out rather nicely, I think. Here is the story of how it came to be.

Since this is in blog format, the posts are in order from newest to oldest. To read this in chronological order, start with How it all Began and use the "Newer Post" links. Or click on the links under Blog Archive, in order.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

It is finished!

Well, the outside is at least.  We had 1500 square feet of sod delivered the other day, and today, with the help of my kids, we laid it all out on the hill.  The result is stunning.  You know how a room looks that is all finished except that the carpet is not in, and it looks so, well, unfinished?  Then you install carpet and it transforms the entire room?  Well, putting sod on the hill is like that.  I worked like crazy today to get this all done, and when I finally stopped, all dusty and sweaty and pooped, I sat down and just stared at it, laughing and exclaiming, I can't believe it!  It's done.  Look at it!  When my wife got home, she just stood and stared, realizing that her dream had come true.  Her vision for a wonderful grassy hill in our yard for the kids to play on, combined with a playhouse underneath--an actual hobbit-hole, had come true.  She is not one to show emotion very much, but she teared up as she admired the completed hill.

Here are some more pics of the finished hill and the work in progress:



Now all that is left is to finish the inside.  I say, all, but of course, that will still be a fair amount of work, because it is currently at about the state of an unfinished room, with the walls framed in, and the wiring and insulation done, and the floor is done, but the walls and floor aren't finished and the fixtures are not installed--oh and the electricity circuit is not hooked up yet.  So that will keep me busy this fall.  

Topsoil on the hobbit-hole




We got a big load of topsoil to cover the hobbit-hole hill, so that it wouldn't be rocky, and so that we could shape the hill a bit more and extend it out a bit at the bottom.  I was going to get some neighbor boys to help, but I got carried away a couple of Saturdays ago and just shoveled it all and raked it all myself--about 10 tons of it.  I subsequently shoveled another five tons from a secondary pile to shape it a bit more.   As you might imagine, the pounds are coming off as I work on this project.  When I started, I was hovering close to 200 lbs.  Now I am down to 179.  (I know I don't look like it in this picture, but my t-shirt is hanging down, making me look fat.)  So, I guess you could say I have discovered a new weight loss secret.

I unfortunately did not get a picture of it with the topsoil completed before I started laying the sod, which I will tell more about in my next post.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Sprinklers installed



I installed the sprinklers.  Here is a picture of a few of the sprinkler heads during their maiden test.  Next step: topsoil.
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