Getting things done. The back door

I'm desperately tired of being two steps behind on everything. I've finally decided if I look at it, and it needs doing, and it touches my brain cells, I will do it right then, even if it may not be the most logical priority. You can get sucked up in "prioritizing" sometimes.

Thus I am finally tackling my extremely embarrassing back door, which leads to an unused mudroom. Let me qualify. It is not used as a mudroom. It is used as a highly convenient cat box room. I have two back doors, so I don't need to use this one.

It was a bit neglected when we purchased the place 13 years ago. Somehow I've managed to look away for over a decade and allow it to get worse. Finally I realized that "looking away" was just adding to my overall stress and I decided it had to happen. I did not post a "before" shot because it was just too awful. Seriously, it was awful. But I do have a "halfway home" shot.

The whole area had to be painted, some worn boards torn off (to be replaced), the brush cut down (yes, there was BRUSH!), landscaping fabric and stone laid down (after making sure no critters were living in the hole under the foundation), the door painted, etc. I still have to build a landing (I have tons of wood in the barn), replace a rotted board on the overhang, and replace the siding boards. I'll also need to add topsoil to level off the area around the stone. Once the wood landing is in, I also plan to sink some flagstones from the creek into the gravel.

I did have to relocate this little red eft. I'm glad I found him (under rotted cardboard packaging from the treadmill I bought three years ago) before I put down the stone.

And then that will be one less thing preying on my soul, and one less thing for visitors to look at and think "Oh, that poor cat lady...things are getting out of hand, aren't they?"