On to the outdoors!

It is the year of the outdoors. We have spent a year and a half working on the inside of this house while we essentially neglected the yard. Well, now is the time to start on the outside! What an undertaking. Just getting the weeds under control is going to be a full time proposition for a while. I spent several hours in the front yard the other day weeding and planting. It look absolutely glorious - hopefully the deer won't eat it all. I did see a few squirrels digging hungrily for my bulbs this morning, but no sign yet of the deer.

Yesterday, I started weeding the back corner by the composter and the pine tree line by the fence. Wow.

I uncovered enough glass and trash to fill a pretty big flower pot just in the back corner alone, and found an entire horseshoe set in the pine trees. The trash in this yard is amazing. Every day, I find something that does not belong back there - marbles, flip tops, glass, drywall anchors, a rubber frog... you name it, I bet it is out there somewhere. I know the previous owners had some major partying going on, so the bottles and cans are not surprising. Some of the trash ends up here because it gets blown in and caught in the hedge or by the fence. Lots of papers, wrappers, plastic bags. I'm determined to get everything cleaned up and get on top of the trash and weed situation this summer. I just need to take it a few feet at a time.

Today, we tackled the front hedge. I trimmed it up, and Honey and I both did clean up and bagging. We had almost 10 bags of branches and leaves. The boxwoods look like they can be saved - they are really overgrown, but I think we can trim them pretty low and let them come back as a shorter hedge. We just need to chat with the neighbors about cutting it down in the late summer. I did find a bunch that had rooted themselves, so I pulled them up and potted them up. We should have several nice little boxwoods to put elsewhere or pass along to someone. As we moved back from the hedge, we discovered a few dead trees, a ton of poison ivy, and a pecan tree that planted itself in amongst the pines. I had to stop myself from going to far - we could have easily worked for the entire day on this 30 foot long area, but it was hot and sticky and gross.

Peanut came outside with me for a while a ran through the sprinkler while I bagged up leaves. Gosh she was cute! She stood there in her clothes and ran up to the sprinkler with her "soap" and washed her hair. She did decide to go in and change into a bathing suit at some point. I wish I had thought to get the camera out!