Oh yard work ... is your end in sight?

I have gotten away from blogging, but if I were to blog I would tell you about working in my yard almost everyday since June first, our dog Cupcake supervising. I would tell you that I spent today—after proofreading a magazine—cleaning out everything underneath the six bushes beside our driveway [read dirt clods, weeds, poison ivy, rocks, and a whole city of underground roots]. It's my fourth day working in this part of our yard (Note to self: Never buy another corner lot!). 




On the first three days working beside the driveway, I also dug up seven to ten redbud mini trees that got into the tiniest crevices beside our fence. Now I know what my grandmother meant when she said, "I used to think I wanted a redbud tree." She got rid of hers for the same reason we had ours cut down eight years ago. I've probably dug up 50 sprouts so far this summer and still have, by yesterday's count, around 25 to go.

Our mini trees and sprouts now come from our neighbor's mature redbud beside our property line. Sadly, the sprout machine, dwarfed by two evergreens, sets beside her house in very little sunlight and is barely visible. I’ve never even seen its blossoms. Apparently, it exists only to suck up, what would have been, my time otherwise-put-to-good-use doing something productive.  Instead, I'm excavating sprout roots, digging all the way to China to dislodge some, it seems.




Back to today, after ousting the rest of the weeds around the bushes, and spraying industrial strength weed killer in their places, now Cupcake and I can start laying professional landscaping fabric and affix with staples. Finally, wheeling the mulch to the bushes, then spreading it evenly three to four inches deep is the last step in landscaping this spot on the south side of our property. 

While we realize it is not fair for one person and one dog to have this much fun, still, we are managing!