Monday May 8
This morning we had to meet with the contractor at 7 a.m.! Not very convenient for us since we're still usually fast asleep then, but that's the only time he said he could meet with us. We explained exactly how we wanted the planter boxes in the vegetable garden area. We also went over our list of items with him.

Today's work consisted of adding things at our request such as a stepping stone in front of each faucet so we can get to them without stepping in dirt or on plants, and moving the other stepping stones further back along the perimeter of the yard. There were also remaining items to finish such as fixing a broken sprinkler valve and loose lighting wiring, and making the boxes for the planters.

The planter boxes turned out bigger than we had asked for. Since there was so much confusion over how we wanted these, we drew up a separate plan for just these boxes showing overhead and side views with dimensions. We wanted the boxes to be 16 inches tall by 18 inches wide. They turned out to be the right height but about a foot wider than we wanted. Luckily the exact dimensions aren't of utmost importance, except that as wide as they are the boxes look a bit like coffins. Also we had a bin plus some overflow trays full of white marble rock chips (from our last run-in with the homeowners' association) that we wanted spread out on the bottom of this area. The contractor thought what we had would have been enough, but it turns out we were woefully short. We will buy more of these ourselves and spread them out when we have time.