Namaste!

We ended up redoing all our irrigation system. We also changed most of it to a drip system. It is more environmentally and economically friendly but needs lots of maintenance. The plants seem to love it.

Mammad also installed a Reduced Pressure Backflow Prevention valve (Febco 825Y) instead of using anti siphon valves. The advantage is that you need only one for the whole system. Otherwise we would have had to change the exsiting valves to anti siphons which would stick out of the ground and look really ugly. The first attempt at installing the backflow device was unsuccessful as there were several leaks in the elbows. But with some ingenuity and with the help of the handy Dremel tool Mammad successfully fixed the problem.
Before/After:

After a year the Gazebo is finally out of the garage. There are about 36 peices to assemble. This is the first time we were checking to see if all the parts are in!

It is smaller than we imagined 9′x6′. We spent some time to decide where to put it. We were debating on having it either in the back yard or in the patio. It seems having it in the patio is a better choice, especially that you can see the nice front carvings from the dinning room.

Then Mammad spent another 2-3 hour in OSH to find some cleaning, coating and protection stuff for the wood. He first sand them lightly and then clean them with a mixture of various cleaners, Superdeck wood cleaner, bleach and water. Then lightly sanded, rubbed some mineral spirits, washed again, then rinsed . Then he applied Varathane wood stain (color: Cabernet) on it. The last step wil be applying McCloskey Marine Spar Varnish for UV protection.

Meanwhile I was working on the chinese antique carved temple window shutters I bought from Ebay. Since no one was taking any pictures of me there is none available for viewing! I may take some tomorrow myself. Till then.

Finally it is done! To make a long story short we fired the first painter on first day because of the lousy job he delivered and hired a new one. Pataki Painting did our exterior paint. I will write a thorough review on the job they delivered after the final touch up is done. We also ended up doing the landscaping and sprinkler/drip systetm ourselves. The front yard is almost done and it is becoming an attraction center for butterflies and humming birds.
Now it is the time to install the Pavillion we bought from Balli and the water features with stone statues. I will keep you posted.