Juggling Patios

We enter our fenced yard through a gate that opens onto Patio B.  (Ian has named our patios A through C.)  It's on the north of our house and where I sit in the mornings drinking coffee next to the hosta shade garden.  It's morning shade only.

This deck runs all along the west side of our house.  This small lawn is the only manicured grass we have and perfect for games of Corn Hole.

Our bedroom opens onto the deck on the south side of the house and this is about as far as we got when we looked at the house to buy.  We were in a hurry, fell in love with the yard even though it was overgrown and realized this was the best house we could get for our money.  We went back inside and made an offer.

And if I had continued along on this walk it would have led me to the side gate and front of the house.

If I would have continued I would have realized that the house came with a hot tub.  It wasn't included in the listing so I didn't look for one, didn't expect one.  It's been used a couple dozen times at the most and certainly not in the last three years, yet Ian has kept it clean and maintained.  This past winter was really cold so it had to run a lot to keep it heated.  I hated to hear it running, knowing it would show up on our electric bill.

About a month ago I was having coffee with two of my neighbors, Cinda and Clover.  (I posted a picture of Clover's house in my last blog - it's where the deer hang out because she provides them water.)  I mentioned that I was so tired of heating that hot tub, even though I know it's a good one.  We have the purchase receipt - almost $9,000 for purchase and installation.  Clover said wistfully that they sure missed having one.  Half in jest, I said you want a hot tub?  You can have mine!  And that's where it all began.

Which led up to yesterday, moving day.  Ian drained it last week and Matt came over to remove the panels so they wouldn't get scratched.  How do you move a hot tub?  With that skinny four-wheeled cart and a lot of guys.

They tipped it up on the sturdy cart and wheeled it around the house, out the RV gate, down our long gravel driveway, down the street to it's new home, just two properties away.  Oh, and the RV pad complete with hook-ups was also missing from the listing.  How lucky we were that the sellars didn't have a professional agent or this house night not even have been on the market!

Without the hot tub it becomes a large patio that will be shaded by our house in the afternoons.  Our yard doesn't have a lot of shade so I'm really looking forward to enjoying this.

This is now Patio D.  It's going to need a little attention before it's ready for a party but it's going to be ready for afternoon reading today!

Patio C is on the other side of those overgrown junipers.  Did I mention that the yard is badly overgrown????

Patio C is all flagstone, which is where we had the table and chairs.  We've done quite a bit of work here pulling grass from between the pavers but there's still a lot more to do.  It gets a small area of shade in a certain part of the afternoon but you have to time it just right.  I'm thrilled to have Patio D and Clover's family is thrilled to have the hot tub.