I can’t believe it’s actually completed. It took
my wife Lisa & I over six months to prepare for this. Long
days and nights of finding a sponsor and local contributing
businesses, setting up the contest & counting the 1000’s of
votes all leading up to picking a winner. The winners, Joey &
Heather Patoray wrote an essay about 
What a hot day it was. My face was red, my cloths were soaking wet and I was drinking water as fast as I could. I was watching as every one started slowing down from the heat, some were laying under the neighbors tree next door, some went under my tent for shade. My son, David, who helps me build koi ponds & I were laying cement block in the ground to keep the sugar sand from falling in to the hole. We put wet towels on top of or heads to keep us cooler while working. The pond itself took up a lot of our time during 2 ½ days of the makeover. Imagine how much fun it is to install scorching hot rubber liner in an open yard with no shade, no wind & a microphone attached to your shirt all the while being video taped. David & the homeowner, Joey, found a way to cool off by jumping into the pond once it was full.
The pond was not the only new item in this backyard. We added a beach area Next to the pond with a bench & one of a kind hand carved Tiki, (one for Joey & one for Heather), a rain barrel that was painted by a local artist, 4 hydrostackers, a hand crafted shed, landscape lighting, a butterfly garden filled with Florida native plants, an arbor, a paver patio with seating area, a shade sail with galvanized post, a zen garden, horseshoe pits, hanging baskets, a metal art mosquito & a paver walkway, all completed in four days! Do you see why they contractors & volunteers where dropping like flies.
Our film maker LaJuana of Premier Video Productions was having fun. LaJuana is a professional videographer who donated her time to film us during the four days of the backyard makeover. We discussed how on the home improvement shows on tv you only ever see makeovers & ponds in California never in Florida. The makeover was filmed non stop during the four days we were working on the yard. LaJuana wrapped up those 4 days into a nice neat little 30 minute video. Boy was that a hard decision trying to decide what was kept in & what ended up on the cutting room floor. Our goal is to have the film aired on local television to show how you can transform your yard from barren wasteland to paradise!
lf you would like to see pictures & a slideshow of the makeover start to finish or would like to learn about the wonderful businesses who donated their goods & services to make this happen please visit www.whatabackyard.com The video will also be added soon. Please feel free to leave me your comments below, we would love to hear what you think.
