This is the "landscaping" between our house and our neighbors' home.
Didn't Robert Frost once say that a bunch of brush and some electrical wires make good neighbors?
To date, we’ve had 7 trees removed from our yard. The sad news is that there are more that need to go.
Tara sits on just over an acre and with no gorgeous trees, and it was a blow to remove seven from the start. In my dreams I see mature magnolias and delicate dogwoods lining the drive, but instead we’ve got a ragtag group of hackberries (what IS a hackberry, by the way?) among a myriad of sad, dilapidated, poor excuses for trees. Nevermind that the first four trees you see when you come up the driveway each have a huge red X on the trunk (thanks, local electrical company…when were you planning on talking those down or did you just spray the red Xs for fun?). Combine that with the grass that refuses to grow on the steep slopes in our yard, and you have landscaping that is nothing to call home about, to say the least.
I think Rhett has a hidden desire to be a farmer, because he’s coming home today with a HUGE lawnmower that he wrangled from some guy in the ‘burbs who owns a lawnmower shop. Back where I come from we hire people to mow our yards, but for Rhett, the idea of sitting atop (or in his case, standing behind) a huge contraption for a few hours every Saturday sounds like Heaven. Whatever. He’s done the math and he figures that in two years the investment of the lawn mower will be paid off compared to how much it would cost someone to mow our yard. I guess this is his answer to my going to step class on Saturday mornings- he just gets his “time” on the back of a gigantic lawnmower slowly chugging all over the steep hills of our yard.
You have to remember that in buying this house, we knew we were purchasing the neighborhood eyesore. However, by doing so we got a great deal. If capital gains didn’t exist, we could sell our house now, 6 months later, and make a nice profit. Not only is the inside now simply spectacular (read: finally livable!) but they say the three things that matter in real estate are location, location, and location, and baby, that’s one thing we do have. I am so spoiled by my simple commute to practically anywhere that moving one day will be painful because I can’t get a better commute anywhere else. Anyways, when the appearance of our front yard makes me want to disinvite friends and neighbors over (or have them come after dark?) being reminded of my location does nothing to ease my mind about the yard.
The first order of business for fixing the landscaping was to remove seven trees, and our trusty contractor, Frank, offered to supervise this for us. We’ll call him Jonas to keep with the Gone with the Wind theme. His two sidekicks, Freddie and Ceasar, we’ll refer to as Big Sam and Pork.
Or maybe I’ll just call them Freddie and Ceasar.
Regardless, these guys were tree-removal experts in their native Mexico and they worked tirelessly taking down huge, dead trees from our yard this summer.
One day, my oldest and I were playing in the den when we heard a knock on the back door. Jonas’ oldest son had come to ask if we had any ice. Much to my dismay, Rhett had yet to hook up the ice maker (yes, honey, that is a dig), so I told him the best I could do was a bag of frozen peas. But why did he need them? He replied that Jonas had simply turned his ankle in one of the small potholes in our yard. Whoops.
Turns out our contractor actually broke his ankle and foot, and his injury required 2 pins and a cast for two months! We worried there was some sort of worker’s comp he could file against us, but ol’ Jonas toughed it out and spent the rest of the summer directing Freddie and Ceasar from the inside of his white pickup.
The scene of the crime (and yes, those are minature trees of some sort that thwart my plans for pretty grass...)
With the trees gone, the landscape looks even more bare and lonely. For my part, I planted a good deal of pansies in the front and around the back deck, but it doesn’t help the overall appearance of the yard.
So here’s my question for you- do you think we should spend more money improving the landscape and repaving the driveway? Is the first appearance that important, or should we invest in the house again before we invest in the yard? (See posting below).
We got a quote from a local landscaping company we trust…but do we want to put that money elsewhere and deal with the yard another day/year?
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