Working in the Yard

We have a really big yard.

It feels bigger because it's been pretty much left to its own devices for the last few years. Once we get things a little more tamed, it won't be as difficult to maintain.

This used to be a huge, fenced in garden area. Now it's a big mess of weeds.

Tom mowed it the other day, but there was still a TON of dead grass and other plants. I have spent hours over the last two days raking the dead things up, and leaving piles everywhere that Tom later disappears into the brush. I've only made it about halfway, and it mostly just looks dead, but eventually it will look better.

This picture is obviously from a different angle, but you get the idea.

This tree has all kinds of problems. it apparently had a rough winter. 

After a lot of cutting and pruning, it finally looks like a tree again. 

There were a lot of dead branches, and there were tons of little shoots at the base of the tree that we cut back. Hopefully now it can focus its energy on growing up and filling out.

Can you see the broken part of our umbrella? It fell over in the wind during a thunderstorm the other day. It went through the screen door on its way down. If you look closely you can see our temporary duct tape patch. Very fancy.

Buddy has been supervising.

It's exhausting work.