A New Putting Green

Sheila and I spent much of the day yesterday doing some rather heavy landscaping work (heavy for us).  It was a productive day but all the work significantly impacted my health.  More on that later.  Yesterday's project was to remove grass from one area and move it to another area so we can have an extended putting green.  It is heavy physical work but it was well worth it in the end. 

We want to add a better putting green in the yard, mostly for Lukey, but we also needed grass in the area in front of our trash shed at the front end of the property.  The logical answer was to remove the unneeded grass where we are making the putting green and lay it down in front of the trash shed.  I did the removing of sod while Sheila did all the laying of sod.  That worked out well.  Considering how this affected my health, it would have taken me days to accomplish this on my own.  

Digging out the grass is tough work even if there are no complications.  Making this project even more difficult was that the area was filled with roots and quite a few rocks.  On the positive side, we're always looking for more rocks for landscaping around the property so it was good to come across many more rocks.  The downside is that the rocks slowed us down and required more back-breaking work.  

First, I cut out chunks of sod around the perimeter of the new putting green.  Well, actually, our old putting green was in the same location but I am now extending it significantly.  This new putting green is about 8-10x larger than the old one.  Plus, it will have the correct type of grass which is a necessity for long putts.

Sheila had never laid sod before so this was a new endeavor for her.  She did a good job and she is pretty happy with herself.  That area in front of the trash shed looks significantly better now.  

The putting green isn't quite ready for seed yet but it is close.  I graded it a little bit but it still needs some cleaning up of tufts of grass, roots, and rocks.  I purchased grass seed that is meant for putting greens.  This grass is finer and lays much lower to the ground.  It will be nice to have the right type of grass in our little putting green.  Trying to putt on typical backyard grass types is frustrating and difficult.  In time, I know that the new putting green will be overrun with other grasses and weeds but we should get a few years of use out of this without any problems.

I have a new golf hole and flag that arrived a few days ago.  That will be an improvement over having just a drinking cup in the ground like we have had over the past few years.  That cup always filled with water plus it was difficult to see when chipping from another area of the yard.  Having a real golf cup and flag will be a significant improvement.  

Almost all the grass is removed...

I still have some downed tree branches and brush to cut up and remove from this putting area.  Once I get the chainsaw up and running for this season, that should go quickly though.  Then I can add grass seed to this area too and we can do some short chipping from this part of the yard onto the putting green.  

I'm looking forward to getting this little project completed.  The wildflower gardens are already ready for the new season but I might add another one or two in this area by the putting green.

As I mentioned above, all this work had a serious impact on my health.  I knew it would affect my spinal injuries but I also had problems with my primary health problem.  My body was fighting anaphylaxis.  I kept throwing more medications at it while also adding more and more epinephrine periodically.  I was nauseated, dizzy and generally feeling miserable.  This continued for the rest of the day and night.  At bedtime, I added more powerful medications which always make me drowsy.  Usually, I hate anything that makes me drowsy but with my spinal injuries were not about to let me sleep last night so drowsiness wouldn't be a bad idea.

Sheila's work looks good!

The putting green is getting there...

My spinal pain and joint pain was so bad that I needed to use my cane again last night.  The pain was definitely in the 8-9 range out of 10.  I am off all my anti-inflammatory medications since my COVID-19 complications so I couldn't turn to that.  Ice was an option last night though and I definitely put ice my spine for a while.  That helped a little bit.  It helped enough to cut the edge off the pain. 

Fortunately, the drowsiness caused by the medications allowed me to sleep fairly well and I'm feeling quite a bit better this morning.  Today will definitely be a down day but at least I am feeling more stable than last night!  And, we made some progress out in the yard today.