Just a Little Trim...or a Big One

Today we worked all day long on the outside of our home. Can you tell a difference?

Before

After!

We cut back the MASSIVE bushes. Right now they're nothing more than sticks, but the foliage will grow in over time. They were far overdue for a trim. We also trimmed up the trees in the front. There was actually a house behind all that green!

Justin also attacked the back yard.

Before(and during a big rain, our backyard becomes a pond)

After

The back looks SO much bigger without the big tree/bush and vines.

The brush piles when we were done.

We are soooo tired but it's worth it because we got a lot done. I wonder if we'll be able to move in the morning. We are both already sore.

Starting this project has also shown us that we have AWESOME neighbors! The other day I had cut a couple of the bushes back with a hand saw and was getting ready to start some more when our neighbor across the street came over and offered to bring his chain saw and help me out. We didn't get them done, but we got pretty far before it ran out of gas. This same neighbor had already come over and cut down a dead tree for us.

Justin bought us an electric chain saw last night so we finished cutting the bushes with it today. When we started dragging them to the curb a teenage boy that lives next door came out and asked if we wanted some help. I said, "SURE!" He was actually jogging to get the brush and then carrying it to the curb. We got done A LOT faster with his help.

Later a couple that lives down the road stopped and offered to loan us their pressure washer to get the green mildew off our bricks where the bushes were. They and the first neighbor mentioned both told us you can spray a bleach water mix on it then spray it off. They also mentioned that they noticed all the work we'd been doing. Our neighbors have been so helpful and nice. I love our neighbors!

We worked hard all day and are so tired, but there's just something good about hard work. It's great to see the pay off. It makes me feel proud. Not that I'd want to do that kind of hard manual work every day, but occasionally it's nice. :)