Altar

When we bought our house it had one feature we knew we would one day have to deal with....the "altar" in the backyard. It is right outside the back door and overtakes the backyard. We call it the altar because there is really no other way to describe it and we have no idea what purpose it would have served when the previous owner built it. So here is a picture of the altar and the retaining wall attached to it:

This week we decided to do something about it. Marci, Joni, and I went to work on the back wall of the altar and the top couple of rows to the retaining wall. We want to drop the wall down in height and bring it straight across. The next day a friend from work and I rented a Jack Hammer and went to town on the base and stairs of the altar. This is the product of our work:

Now we have a giant mess to clean up and not exactly sure how to finish off the wall. We are also a little concerned about keeping it from falling down, but we already like it better!