Limb It Up!

There are many places that i feel that i'm "in my element." For instance, when i'm in front of a bowl of ice cream. Or when i have a beverage in my hand. But for this post, it's when i'm doing yard work.

When we moved in, our house looked like this:

The shrubbery (all of which is spiky as hell, by the way) is overgrown and the large-breed trees are just...in the way. Now, listen. I get that those trees were planted there for privacy since we have a ton of neighbors, even right across the street. And privacy is important for those of us that aren't exhibitionists (for the most part). But really, a large oak and a large maple do NOT belong in the front yard that close to the house. For one, it really brings down the curb appeal. Most importantly, the roots of those enormous trees can really mess up the foundation. And once we can comfortably afford to have them professionally removed, i'm jumping at the chance. In the meantime, i limb'ed 'em up!

(Did you notice that we changed the door hardware to brushed nickel? Down with the brass!)

Here's the evidence, which, when we dropped it off at the dump, learned that it weighed a little over 100lbs: 

I chopped away at the side yard(s), too:

(That tree in front of the bay window needs to come out completely, but that's for another day.)

 And the other side:

This weekend, we'll be working more on the outside of the house by "updating" the fixtures (you'll understand why i put that in quotes later), and draining/filling in the pond.  We're also in the midst of an indoor project that i have to bring you all up to speed on. 

There's always something, you guys. Homeownership for the win.