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Girish Ballolla loves the oasis he's created in his backyard.
"I sit out there on the hammock with a cold one and think, 'This is the life,'" he says. "I don't have to go anywhere to get to a park."
Sure, he can say that now that the grueling four weeks are a distant memory, with the severely jammed finger, the sore back from moving tons of boulders and rain delays all making way for a backyard oasis.
Ballolla, a Kansas University alumnus, did all the work as part of an episode of the DIY Network's "Sweat Equity." The show, hosted by Amy Matthews, shows how homeowners can add value to their homes by doing projects on their own.
Ballolla's episode initially aired in the fall, though repeats are still being shown on DIY.
It was filmed over four grueling weeks in September 2008, when Ballolla transformed his plain, grass backyard in suburban Minneapolis into a "zen retreat," as the title of the episode deems it.
He hooked up with the show because of the stone business he previously...