The yard work has been quite exhausting even though we haven't done a ton of it. This summer we aren't putting a lot of effort into the yard, though we have a lot of plans for it. Plans for next summer. When we aren't doing a whole lot of home renovations on the inside. But there have been a lot of little things that have needed care, such as over grown tree limbs and removing unwanted items.
The first item on our list were the backyard trees. The limbs were beginning to hang so low we had to stoop under them to mow the lawn. Plus they cut out a lot of the yard. The left one got the biggest haircut. Here's a picture of it nearly finished.
We also trimmed the front yard trees, but I forgot to get pictures of that.
And below is a picture of the aftermath. The branches were dragged over to the side of the house awaiting further cutting down to more manageable sizes. Sad to say these limbs are still waiting for that stage on the side of the house.... Don't judge. We were tired. :P
However, Paul did get started on a few of them with our new handy dandy electric chainsaw. He calls it the Almost Manly Chainsaw. It's a chainsaw but it's electric. The chainsaw makes it manly, but the electric makes it almost so. Almost Manly. But hey! It works great and is ecological! It's all in an effort to help save all of the moose in the world. Seriously. The moose have thanked us. Honest! Fine, don't believe me. :P
We also chopped down an ugly bush that was on the right side of our yard but I forgot to get pictures of that, too. I apparently was a bad journalistic blogger/photographer that day. Anyway that bush was like half a bush because it was planted right next to the neighbor's fence and could only grow out against the fence. And it was all by itself. It just looked out of place and... well.... kind of stupid. We never liked it. So out it went. We still have the stump to try and take out. Anyone want to volunteer for that job?? Don't stumble over yourselves getting over here. I know everyone is just dying to take that on, aren't you?
All of the above was done one day about a week and a half ago. Yesterday we tackled the conifer growing along the front side of our garage.
This conifer was getting tall and out of place. It made the yard look unbalanced and it was growing at an odd angle, leaning a bit to the left and forward toward the road a bit. The unbalanced look of it drove Paul crazy. (Not a far trip.... Don't tell him I said that! LOL!) I looked into how to trim conifers but apparently they only grow up so if you cut it down it just ceases to grow. So we decided to take it out.
Now I'm going to be real and honest here. Cutting this conifer was hard because this tree was most likely planted when the house was built, making it 14 years old. It just felt wrong cutting down a tree that started life with the house. We love nature and it went against our core, but we also knew that the conifer wasn't working next to the house. We also calmed ourselves with the fact that we were going to plant a new shrub in it's place. :)
The garbage we found hiding under this conifer! Toys and drink pouches obviously from neighbor kids.
However, even though it was hard to do, we have planted a new shrub in it's place - one that will actually fit the space and will balance out the landscaping around the house. We put in a baby Burning Bush, which will match the Burning Bush on the right hand corner of the house. We absolutely love that bush! It is beautiful green in the summer that turns flaming red in the fall. Hence it's name. Here's a picture. Aren't they gorgeous?
Check out this previous post to see the Burning Bush on the right side of the house 5 years ago. It was quite a lot smaller then. Now it is as big as the bush pictured above, so they grow quickly. In fact, that bush is growing so well that it has sent out 2 new bushes next to it that I discovered yesterday. Little baby Burning Bushes! I was thrilled to find them and plan on transplanting them to the backyard so we can enjoy their color back there too.
Next post I'll get everyone caught up on the hallway flooring project. I know, I know... I promised it for this post but I thought the yard work progress would be a better post this time around. Don't hate me. It's coming and the outcome of it is awesome! :D
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