Landscaping

(there's nothing like capturing a photo of a man in your tree from the second story window..)

Did I mention that we were naive home buyers? When we were house hunting, we'd look at a house and say "Oh, we like this, " or "No, I just don't like that." So when we found this one that I thought was just so "perfect," and it came time to make an offer and make demands in the contract, we were a little relieved to have finally found a house and didn't stop and think about stuff like "What should the seller FIX before we buy the house?"

We knew we wanted the pool removed, but until it was, we had no idea that the backyard looked like a small overgrown jungle. Actually, there are (were) a lot of small trees on the property that were hopelessly overgrown and causing all sorts of problems. My romantic house-hunting notions of "Oh, it has fruit trees" didn't register as, "Oh-my-god, these 8 trees are planted within 8-12" of the foundation and must be ripped out ASAP."
I guess we live and learn. So we hired landscapers to rip apart our property, leaving some well-placed trees (a tall pine and two pear trees in the backyard) and take away everything else. So far this has meant two truckloads of shrubbery/branches/etc. including two large trees from either side of the driveway. After those two trees were down, the property (and the house itself) looked HUGE. It was awesome!

The landscapers are here again today and still have tons of work to do (three sides of the garage were "junglized"). Before and after photos may not be possible, I'll see what I have saved from "before" and then search the house for the camera connection cord to upload some "after." Bear with me. xoxo.

***Edit*** Before & After photos:

Two big trees near the driveway (and frustrated looking husband):

GONE:

(sad looking stump-- will be dug out this afternoon):

Overgrown small trees along the driveway:

GONE:

Wilderness along the side of the house:

And trees growing INTO my kitchen window:

GONE:

WHAT IS THIS?:

Answer: The Garage!!:

Backyard/Jungle:

And now, Ahhhhhhh~~~~