My name is Vila. Bob Vila.

Today began the work in the long-overdue leveling of the front walk. It looked okay before the deck went on last summer, but not so much now.

So after shopping today we got started on the first part, removing the stones and clearing out the weeds and soil accumulating between the pavers. Ironically, while we have many patchy spots on our lawn, we manage to grow a bumper crop of weeds between the stones in the walk.

It was a rather mindless, dirty job, but we managed to get all the stones out, all the weeds out, and most of the aggregate re-leveled. However, a little research showed that the bozo who put in the stones didn't really do it right. So when we go to pick up the big tamper tomorrow, we will also pick up the appropriate edge barriers (to prevent the stones from slipping and spreading), the cloth barrier (to prevent weeds from growing), and the sand to lay over the aggregate and to brush over and inbetween the stones to bind them all together. If done correctly, the online sources tell me the walk should last a good 20 years.

I figure by the time the task rolls around again, I'll have recovered from this one.

We won't talk about those big-ass 2'x2' pavers in the back that still have to come up and get sorted out. I'm not naive enough to think they were laid down properly in the first place. But, yeah, I know it will have to be done too.

Maybe next weekend....

(Edit: The task was largely done Sunday night and everything hurt afterward. All that's left to do is re-positioning the edging, adding more sand to the gaps in the stones, and re-installing the stairs on the porch. If the "fuck you" signals I was receiving from my muscles are any indication, I will definitely neeed to make the back patio refresh a 2-person job.)

Ow...