Yard work galaore

The Pond is almost an ex-pond! Today the missionaries in our ward came over to do a few fun filled hours of service, namely hauling smelly pond water out and dumping it. They dumped it under the swingset, the grass, the flowers & the fence. Hopefully it is good fertilizer and not bad for the yard in general. It certainly is smelly! It took them about 2 hours to get most of it out. Then they were able to pull up the tarp and dump the last of the sludge into the hole, which I plan to fill with dirt as soon as possible. I need about 5 cubic yards of dirt. I called and asked a "dirt expert" to be sure. It will cost about $220 including delivery to get the lovely dirt. I am hoping to get some grass to grow there and mesh with the rest of the yard.

I am also hoping so we will no longer be home to the charming barking frogs of Virginia. It was about this time last year that we discovered they really do bark during mating season, and I don't need to repeat lesson this year. There were 4 frogs in the pond which the missionaries thoughtfully transported down the street to the much larger neighborhood pond. I am sure the frogs will be much happier there. The elders also got all of this done in time for them to get headed home before the Tornado warning struck. Yeah!! We saw some clouds that looked like they were trying to funnel up, but so far just thunder & lightening has come our way. Well, and lots of rain. It sure is a good thing that tarp is gone so we don't collect anymore rain tonight in the pond. Karl was thinking that we could keep the pond and use it to scoop water and water the garden that way, but I am tired of the overall yuck factor, and since he didn't actually scoop any major number of buckets, I hope he won;t complain about the lack of pond. He was also thinking maybe we could get it all clean and try again, but let's face it, if you want a fish killed, I am your girl! Anyone need about 3 lbs of fish food though? I have some!! I'll keep you posted on the dirt!

And did I mention I got rid of the palm trees about a month ago??? It was so easy! I put an ad on craigslist and they walked away the next day with no effort on my part! I probably should have charged a little for each tree, but I just wanted them gone. We replaced them with 4 lovely hydrangea and 4 crepe myrtle. I will have to baby the hydrangea this summer, but hope to have them flourishing soon. the rose bushes which were never really noticeable behind the trees are also doing very well. They burst into bloom this week and are just lovely.

This is the Before shot.



I think it says a lot about the general feeling about the palm trees when total strangers pullover to stop and let you know how nice your yard looks if they happen to see you outside! But hey, someone who really loves those trees has them now! And I love what I have instead so it is a win win situation.

I will take some after pictures too and show off the garden improvements, just after I get some dirt! I planted everything on my list, and then added some strawberries that friends had that needed a new home. They won't flower and produce berries this year, but next year, if all goes well we should have some yummy berries!! As for the rest for the garden, I see lots of sprouts, but mostly lots of grass so I have being working on my weeding. I have not started in on the front flower beds yet.