Who needs a gym membership when you have a yard to work in?

The week began with working on our home improvement project. We are tearing out EVERYTHING from our front yard and side yard (front and back). Cutting down trees, removing shrubs, plants and groundcover. Tearing up the cement walkways, stairs and porch. Demolishing fences. Propping up the roof over (what-used-to-be-our) front porch. Our yard is now one big, uneven, pile of dirt (it was all MUD a few days ago) - with a couple of tractors left in the yard overnight and over the weekend, to enhance the aesthetics of our lovely homestead.

(this is a "before" picture of sorts - it's just after cutting down the pear tree)

Why? you might ask, are we doing all of this? Well, we decided to thwart the efforts of mother nature when she threatened to erode our yard away and let our house slide down the hill - not to mention that the sidewalks and walkways were dropping to the west with gravity and sliding sideways as well. The drainage problems in our backyard create small swimming holes during the rain and our driveway is sinking in the middle. That's what our home improvement project is all about. Aren't you glad you asked?

So, it started like this: Jensen and I took out some large, dying bushes and cut down our pear tree. We decided to hire an expert to cut down the other five trees (upwards of 40-50 feet high) that had to go. Then, I hired a couple of guys to help me haul and place the logs and branches from the fallen trees into the back patio. We removed the remaining foliage and smaller branches, stacked hundreds (if not thousands) of cement and stone pavers, demolished the fence and trellis, moved small boulders, moved patio furniture, took a load to the dump, took a load to the local yard debris recycler, dug up a few precious Irises, hostas and heathers, and cut down a few small arbor vitae trees from the backyard.

The hardest relocation was the gardening shed. It is a 10x10 Rubbermaid shed. The walls and the roof come off the floor in one piece, so we emptied everything out, lifted and carried the upper portion to the back patio, placed it there temporarily, went and got the "floor" section, moved IT to the patio, put the "top" back on, and replaced the lawnmower, yard tools and supplies.

Then the tractors came in. I am absolutely in LOVE with something called a Bobcat. It takes up a cement walkway, tree stump or huge bush in one fell swoop! It can delicately scoop out blooming Irises and gingerly place them into a wheelbarrell. It can grab boulders and move them across the 120' wide yard in a minute's time. It can dig out a hole in the side of a hill with precise measurement and levelity. What more could a girl ask for?


(this is when the Bobcat pulled out the cement staircase that leads up to our front door).



(This is where our shed will be relocated to once we put down more "floor" material and retaining walls).

As they dig, more issues arise with erosion, soil compactness (or lack thereof), design, former city building regulations and the mistakes that the original builder made. And, of course, it all translates into more expense!

I just keep looking to the future, when we will have a beautiful, lower-maintenance yard, as well as safe walkways and erosion resistant flower beds. Another bright light in all of this is that I've been physically working so hard this week, I have been able to eat ice cream, pizza and chocolate and not gain a pound!


(This is what it looks like today - except there's a lovely tractor in the middle of it. If you look closely, you can see how the posts were removed from the porch roof and is now cantalevered, or supported, with 2x4's).