Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

Another successful weekend of hardcore landscaping. Our faithful crew returned, with chainsaw in tow, for another round with the overgrown mess that is our yard. I planted the three remaining azalea and the lilac, which have sadly still been in their pots from the store for about two months now. They seemed to be doing fine so I procrastinated a bit, but now they are finally in permanent homes. We cut down a few more trees and lots of shrubby, weedy bushes in the side yard. Lots of weeding and pruning (thank you! thank you!) on the trees and bushes we're keeping.

Dave had his sights set on the bush at the end of the driveway, an overgrown and mostly dead Juniper. He hacked it back and then it was finished off with the chainsaw, clearing up a huge section of the side yard, and even revealing a small post fence in front of the transformer. Who knew! I was a little nervous about removing something so large, mostly because of the work it will take to cover up the mess it left, but it looks so much better. There is a huge bare spot, surrounded by weeds (below) that need to be taken care of, but still, better. I'm thinking that it might even get enough sun down there to plant flowers. Actual flowers that bloom colorful blooms. I know this may be a lot to ask, but it seems to have worked for some of the neighbors.



A cluster of pine trees also fell prey to the chainsaw. I was a little unsure about taking them down at first, because it would make the driveway so much more open, but again it was a great improvement. Our massive pile of sticks and branches decreased for a time, and them filled right back up again. I hope the neighbors don't mind. This is what one side of the driveway looks like now.



I am still trying to wrap my head around the neglect that this yard has suffered over the years from multiple owners. Yes, the work is a bit daunting, but it only gets worse if you continue to do nothing. I guess they were too busy putting up all that wallpaper to worry about the outside.

In the meantime we're hoping the town comes back to pick up the pile we left in the road. The town website says everything must be put in bins to be collected, but everyone else on the street just puts everything right in the road (which I absolutely hate!) but it gets taken away just the same. This morning they emptied the bins full of sticks we put out as a good faith gesture, like look! we tried!, but they left the large pile. Fingers crossed that they come back for the rest!