The Never Ending Story of Yard Work in Isolation

When we first bought our house it was full of trees and had a very woody/nature-y feeling about it. It was after we moved in we realized many of the juniper bushes were actually pushing up on the house and damaging it. In addition, the small juniper shrubs were nothing more than a nest of spiders and unkempt mess. So, soon after we moved in we removed the juniper bushes, and parts of the trees that were actually dead.

Now, minus the trees and bushes...blank canvas

Fast forward seven years and we have come to dislike having so many fruit bearing trees. I mean one or two is fine, but we were pushing 11 trees that drop fruit annually all over the lawn. So much that we couldn't get rid of it fast enough and the yard smelt fermented. Plus the trees were so overgrown that the fruit they produced was small and sour and not very edible.

So, this year, thanks to social isolation, unemployment, and being stuck with nothing really to do, we decided to "prune" the trees. My Dad came up to help and we started in the side yard. When Brent got home from work he saw that my Dad's idea of pruning left little more than the trunk...and it was kind of like, at this point, why not do what we really want and take the trees out! 

That way we can start from scratch and have things we actually want growing in our yard....so that's what we did. We took six trees from the front side yard out.

The listing photo

My photo, the first time we came to look at the house before we bought it

Now...without the trees and bushes. 

Side yard our first winter in the  house

Now minus some trees and bushes

Before...with snow and bare trees...

 We also decided to take down a shed that was in the backyard. It wasn't a horrible shed, as far as they go, but removing it really opened up the yard. In the back yard we took four trees (3 and a half) out from the back yard. Our plum tree had fallen from the weight of its fruit a few years back, but had grown about 13 feet tall since then, but we took it out.

My favorite part was when we dropped the two crab apple trees in the front yard. They were beautiful one week of the year and the rest they were just a pain. They provide some shade in the yard, but mostly they just are a big mess. Having no trees or bushes in the front of the house has really made it look quite bare...and open.

Before. This was the first time we saw the house, before we bought it

We also added a HUGE dog door for our two HUGE fur babies.

 In tandem to the tree/yard project, we also were tearing off some dry rot from one of the side patio roofs and replacing it. In order to get rid of the waste, we decided to get a small dumpster. However, the last time we did this Brent's parent wanted in and so we offered to get a larger one so they could clean up some of their house too. So that is what we did. It finally arrived the DAY I left for California. So Brent was left to clean up the yard with the boys. I felt horrible, but he insisted I leave and not worry.

One of the pictures he sent me while I was in Cali. Obviously teenager was having fun helping with the dump process.

We decided to save a lot of the wood for firewood, or for our smoker (since we've gotten into smoking a lot of meat and stuff). So we started the loooong and aching process of cutting down the wood and stacking it. Brent built these wood caddies after we did some pintrest research. Once I got home from Cali, we really started filling them up!

We were worried about having enough wood to fill the caddy, turns out we actually needed to build a second.

We also decided to partition off the yard for the dogs. Now they have a designated space they can use the doggy door and go to. That way the chickens and my garden beds will be safe from their puppy antics and digging.

We ended up accidentally interfering with the dsl cables, so we had a lovely little visit from our internet provider, who fixed it all, no charge. Bless him!

the new DSL lines...we had to bury

We got straw for the doggies.

They loved this stuff. 

What that area used to look like before we bought the house

We moved the chicken coop much easier than I thought, and built a couple more nesting boxes for our new chicks. We also moved the sandbox, and worked on removing some huge tree stumps and got that trampoline back down, so our boys can jump their hearts out. We decided there really is no good place for the trampoline. It is just gigantic and takes up a ton of space. However, the boys love it and it sure gets used a ton. So we put it in the corner, where the functional busy stuff goes. Chickens, raised beds, etc...

Some more before pictures of the side yard, and the many trees that are no more...

Before we bought the house...very shaded and bugs galore

Now...open to lots of sun. We are going to build a tree house in the branched out stump. 

We have a lot of plans in the works too...

We are going to pull all of the chain link fence and replace with wood privacy fence. That way the side yard will become the back yard. As we will remove the partitioning fence that is currently there.

We are cutting a doorway on the other side of the back porch and putting in stairs.

The back porch is up for discussion...we keep throwing different ideas around, but haven't quite landed on what we really want. We both agree we'd like it more open, so possibly removing the roof and laying more appropriate boards down that can stand snow, etc? Who knows. The pump to our well is literally right outside of the back door. The deck is built atop the pump. That makes it fairly tricky as to what to do. Plus we know this is our first home and plan on getting something with more acreage in the near-ish future...so there is that.

Until then...yard work is keeping us VERY busy.

39

What seems like forever ago, back in March I turned 39. I was spoiled this year (well usually every year). I came home from work, which is always crazy because Dr. Seuss and I share the same birthday. Somehow since I was a kid to now it is a huge deal at schools, so usually Friday is a culmination of Seuss week. Anyways, the boys had made me GIGANTIC card. It was very sweet. They also arranged a sweet little party for me. With glowing unicorn horn and ears, with lots of noise makers. Yay!

In addition to my little birthday party, Brent had arranged a birthday weekend for me. On our way to Portland we ran by the ranch to feed the cows...in the dark. It was great.

Once we got to Jen's we visited a little then went to bed. The next morning she made an awesome breakfast and we dove right in to our favorite game lately, Mansions of Madness, that Josh got me for Christmas.

We had to stop abruptly to get ready for the night. I wanted to go eat at my favorite El Tapatio restaurant in SE Portland. It was the place Brent and I went on our first OFFICIAL date. It is a special place.

When I got there I was surprised to see one of my besties sitting there waiting for us. We screamed and ran up to each other and jumped up and down, like little girls. Not almost 40 year olds...haha

Brent ordered me a huge margarita. It was as big as my head. He ended up telling me where we were going, because my brother was flaking on coming. He planned for us to go to a comedy club we used to frequent years ago, in addition to the dueling piano bar.

I got the sombrero and birthday shot of tequila.

Jen, Brea, Carleen, and Dan were also there at the restaurant. We ate and I opened up all my wonderful presents. So Blessed! I really have some wonderful people in my world.

We drove over to the comedy club and the show was running a little late so we headed over to the dueling piano bar to catch some tunes. The show hadn't really started yet, but they had fun drinks and lots of good music playing in the intermittent.

Thank goodness Max was able to come and take Josh's ticket. However, OH MY GOODNESS. The comedy (if you can call it that) was raw and horrible. We were more uncomfortable laughing than really laughing and it was just weird. Maybe I am getting old?!

The headlining comedian is supposedly on comedy central and usually that means they are decent. He ended up just mainly heckling the crowd and had no material. He just sat down and started making fun of people. Again. Weird and kind of put a damper on the vibe...but not too much. I was too happy to be out with my peeps.

Once we were done at Harvey's we headed back over to the Barrel room to finish out the night. Carleen and Dan went home, they didn't realize we were going back over to the piano bar. So later she was pretty bummed they bailed. But we are getting to that point where bed time is a highlight of our day.

Anyways, the musicians weren't as good as the first ones I had seen there, but it was fun to scream out some songs and dance a little.

 The next day Mitch came to hang out with us before we headed back home. We played some games and talked. It was the perfect wrap up to an amazing weekend.

Next year should be epic...