landscaping

With the snow finally at last thank GOODNESS gone, everyone is eager to work outside.  I raked up dead leaves all over the place and discovered daffodils, and little garden areas already in place! I can't wait to see if anything pops up, and to plant some easy flowers.

My dad was here when I got home from school on Wednesday...


... having already taken down an ugly evergreen that was up against the corner of the house. It was scraping off paint and blocking our bedroom windows and looking unattractive. So it's gone! And now a pretty apple tree that was overshadowed is a nice neighbor to the house.

We also dug up all the blackberry prickers bushes that were in the front yard; we're going to put grass seed down there instead and maybe a garden eventually. Digging up huge roots and dragging prickers to a brush pile was surprisingly so satisfying.  Knowing it's ours to dig up and hopefully make prettier is such a great feeling!



Jesse arrived home as the last of the blackberries were being dragged away, and he was excited to start in on a new project. He and dad started in clearing the trees in our front yard, which consist of two huge evergreens, a couple lilac bushes, an elm, and some others I don't know. The two evergreens are...ugly? for lack of a classier word? Jesse and I initially wanted to get rid of them, but were told by many people they are good shields from the road and 'traffic noise.' We hear about 5 cars an hour go by but I digress.

Instead of chopping down huge trees, Jesse and dad started sawing off the lower branches of the evergreens, which quickly opened up the yard. We now have space for two more cars to park, some firewood for this fall, and I daresay the trees look PRETTY! I don't have any 'after' pictures of it yet but here are some of dad looking like he's in the jungle. So bad.

Lumberjacks du jour:

We had dad stay for supper, and it was weirdly reassuring making dinner to the sounds of their saws outside.