small backyard deck project

 We have finally recovered from our big fencing project and the weather for the most part has been perfectly beautiful. As you can see we really need a bigger fire feature, well I have been hunting to find the perfect option and I think I may have found one. I wanted a gas fire pit table that can house a large propane tank. I love real wood burning fire but it is against by-law to burn wood within the city area and although lots of people do I didn't want to chance it since the $400 fine is a bit steep and we live on the corner and if someone wanted to call and complain than we are out of luck. So propane is a great option , instant fire and heat and no nasty smoke in the face.

 If you have been following along a year ago we were planning on installing a custom hot tub back here behind the garage...well it was not worth the cost of possibly $50,000 and it was going to have to be long and narrow to abide by the codes and it just seemed like a wrong choice after weighing all of our options.
I went ahead and picked out a beautiful tree, this Japanese lilac, it will soften up this back corner. This has become a nice spot for bird watching and bunny sightings, we see daily lots of robins, cardinals and yellow finches.

 Here is a cute pic of our pooches enjoying some sun, they sure love the warm weather.

 This is my latest design plan for our yard. There are three important zones for us, an eating area a fire pit area and a sunny conversation area. The patio expansion will have to wait for this year, hopefully we can tackle it next summer but for now we picked up a love seat and arm chair set on sale and decided to go ahead with a deck behind the garage.

 We had to remove the grass to get prepared to build the deck.
 Grass removal is back breaking work. My hubby did most of the removal. I scored the sod with my electric edger which made it more manageable.

Our little dog Dolce enjoying some outdoor time on the faux fur blanket....he is now 12 years old and almost completely blind which is causing a lot of problems with our other do Moe who is the more dominant dog. Dolce can't see Moe's visual cues anymore and crowds in on his space and then Moe sees it as a threat and sadly has been attacking Dolce and he just doesn't stand up to Moe...if anyone has advice for me on this I would love to hear it. I am just trying to keep on top of them and trying to keep them separated mostly. It is very stressful and a sad situation.

I am so inspired by the backyard of Modern Jane you can see it here and here , it just has a great feeling and is so stylish.I am crazy about the stained wall by the house, it is amazing. I'm really looking forward to spending lot's of time on our finished deck on our comfy new furniture.
We are attaching one of the ledgers to the foundation of the garage...I have some advice, rent a hammer drill if you don't have one, it was the best $20 I have spent on this project, it took 5 min to drill 10 holes, we tried with a normal drill and a masonry bit and it did not go well at all, so don't waste your time, rent the proper equipment.

We have Mason's sweet 16 party this Saturday and this rain is really getting in the way of progress, we may be working well into the night on Friday to get this 14'x12' deck complete but I'm sure it will get done because a mud pit is not in order.

Rain rain go away.....please!