When we live in a house for a while, it’s easy to become blind to things that should be obvious eyesores.  Something that bothered us initially becomes something we don’t even notice.  Such was the case with the basketball pole off our driveway.  We walk past it almost every day and, occasionally, I would recognize it and comment that we need to remove it and then we would go about working on other things.

We considered putting a new backboard and net up to make it functional, but we learned that it would have to be either customized or custom-made since the mounting hardware on the pole no longer matches up with modern backboards.  We then questioned if anyone in our house would use it enough to make it worth the trouble and expense and decided it would be best to just remove it.  We mentioned that it was going to come down to the daughter of the former owners and she said, “Good luck with that!  Dad may have overdone it on the concrete.”

Jeff and I had planned on digging it out, but given that it was embedded in large quantities of concrete, that wouldn’t be a realistic plan to execute.  We looked through our inventory of tools to see which one might be best for cutting the pole down but decided we should just ask our contractor to do it when he was here to open the pool and fix some grout and tile in the boys’ bathroom.  It’s the kind of project that might take us half a day testing out saws and techniques and it would take him just a few minutes.

We dug around the pole to prepare for it to be removed and to make the job a little easier for our contractor.  And, sure enough, he had just the right tool and know-how for the job and the pole was down in about two minutes.

He could also cut it up and scrap it for us since we wouldn’t be able to transport an 8′ metal pole to the scrap yard in my minivan.

To make the remaining section of the pole safe, he cut the top and bent the sides over like petals.  He shared that his brother had severely injured his foot on a cut-off pole when they were younger, so he is very mindful about what is left in the ground.  This will be covered by several inches of dirt, but it’s still nice to ensure that there aren’t any sharp metal edges sticking up.

Removing the unused basketball pole is sort of like painting a ceiling.  People aren’t likely to notice a freshly-painted ceiling but they will notice one that needs to be painted.  We’re probably not going to get comments about how nice it looks with the basketball pole removed, but it’s no longer a distraction or an eyesore.  I filled in the hole with material from edging and other yard projects and we’ll seed it in the fall.  Eventually, this area will be home to a fence-in-pottager garden, which will look so cute and so much better without a basketball pole in front of it!

We’ll eventually add a portico over the door and new railings, but that’s not a high priority and I’m still considering different designs and options.

I didn’t do much in the yard last week other than water because it was simply too hot, but before the heatwave arrived, I finished some edging around the garden beds.  My technique is getting better, but I’m still not great and making straight lines and clean shapes.  That’s okay.  We’re going for better and not perfect.

 I finally finished tarping the front garden yesterday (I’m trying to kill off Bishop’s weed/goutweed before I plant there) and moved the old cardboard and bags of mulch acting as weights.  I looks a lot cleaner and I think the black plastic will be more effective than the cardboard in this area.

The next project in the hopper for the exterior is to build a custom surround for the AC unit in the back.   It’s right off the patio, which is an unfortunate spot, but I think a custom-built screen will look sharp.  When the AC does need to be replaced, we’ll see if we can move it to a more discrete location.   I also received the shutters I ordered for back of the house, so I’ll paint and install those…

…and I’m going to power wash the front walk and patio.

After a stretch of pretty intense heat, it’s been nice to get back outside again!