Too Much Trimming

I've got a good number of trees and bushes running along the front of the house.  They do make the house look good, I guess, but it does take a decent amount of time to trim them all.  This year I worked on it for two days... maybe 9 hours altogether.  But, it's done :)

I've got three holly trees/bushes/whatever like the one at the corner of the garage here.  When I moved in they were up/above the lower roof line and every year I cut them back shorter.  My advice to anyone thinking of planting these things is... don't.  I guess one good thing about them is that for some reason robins like to nest in them, if you think that's a good thing.

 

Now that's another holly bush at the left corner of the house but different from the others.  This sucker is big, well over 10 feet tall now and perhaps 7-8 feet in diameter.  I've never really trimmed this thing as it just doesn't get in my way or bother me... yet.

 

The front door is pretty much just for decoration.  To the best of my memory no visitor/guest has ever entered through this doorway.  There have been a few solicitors that have rung the bell and I kind of get a kick out of the fact that the first thing they say, before they even say what they're trying to sell me, is "Boy... that's some driveway to come up."  It doesn't help them... I still say 'no' to whatever it is they made the trip up the driveway to sell me.

 

Little Table

I have been in need of a very little table for use out on the deck.  I wanted something less than two feet tall and somewhere around a foot square.  I looked around at a few antique stores in the area but didn't see anything small enough.  While visiting the kids last week I stopped in the antique shop there and found one that would have worked but the proprietors wanted $19 for the thing and wouldn't budge.  As my daughter-in-law Samantha says... "They're very proud of their merchandise."  I didn't buy it but I took a couple pictures of it because I really liked the design and figured I could duplicate it without a lot of trouble.  I liked the way the legs were mounted on the outside of the shelves but angled, not square to them.  So, the last couple of days I gave it a shot.  It's been a long time since I did any woodworking with small stock.  Making something out of a 2x4 is pretty simple.  If you don't like where the first nail goes, or need another one, just pound the sucker in... lots of room.  Making something with quite smaller stock provided some challenges.  After cutting the pieces to size I found some difficulty in putting them together to say the least.  Getting it to square up had me talking to it in what might have been perceived as a derogatory manner by a bystander.  Next time the shelves will be square which is the way they were in the antique one.  Boy, did I learn a lesson!  In the end it turned out to be just what I wanted. 

Bushes In The Ground

I got a couple of little bitty butterfly bushes from a nursery early this spring and have been growing them in pots in front of the garage where they did quite well.  Today it was time to put them in the ground.

Sitting nicely on the bench.

 

I've mentioned it many times before but digging a hole around my yard is just an awful fight between me and the inevitable rocks!  As if the heavy clay 'soil' wasn't bad enough.  Digging these things up just takes all the fun out of digging.  And, they're not pebbles as you can see.  But, both holes have been dug and I'm still standing :)

 

Ta da... all done.

And the view from the porch.  Supposedly they're supposed to grow to be 6-8 feet in diameter and judging from the size of the original growth thus far, I haven't the least doubt they'll make it.  I had to remove the rose bushes from this area so hopefully the animals will leave these alone and this back 'desert' area will be filled in nicely.  The wildflower beds are actually showing growth this year as well... yippee!