When you spend an entire weekend pulling up weeds, trimming back hedges and pressure washing your new house you accomplish two things. The first is relatively obvious, the second is a little less so but has large payout of “good neighbor” points.
To the first, the outside of the house was dingy and overgrown when we first got the keys, but by the time the last weekend of July had come to a close the bushes were cut back, the overgrowth removed and the vinyl was shining! Nearly 18 hours of back breaking labor in two days and we finally had a place that said “could be cute” not “serial killer” from the street. We were proud of ourselves and felt like we had gotten to a good start.
To the second, our presence chopping and cutting, taking down antennas and power washing vinyl began to draw attention from the locals. These people who would soon become our neighbors began to pass by – always nonchalant as if to say “We’re curious, but didn’t want you to think we were, so now we’re pretending to go for a walk” – stopping to marvel at the work being completed at break-neck pass. Some would strike up chatter to remark that the last people had let the grass grow to nearly 3 or 4 feet. Others stared a little at the odd people trying to mold the little ranch into a home. But one in particular to drink his Miller Light and smoke his Marlboroughs while fluttering about and telling us his entire life history.
This one other is no other than Richard. He is our new neighbor across the street. A self-proclaimed house painter living with his mother and his wife. Definitely a social man seen often times carrying a bag of random beer cans while buzzing back and forth between the homes of our surrounding neighbors. Overall a nice man – if not a bit strange.
Like I said though, we did get a hack of a lot of work done – even if we were getting accosted by the entire neighborhood. For fun here’s the photographic record of the work that got accomplished.
What you don’t see here? A decade’s worth of ivy growth and unattended flower beds interspersed with some pretty gnarly young trees growing up through the whole mess. Also worth mentioning: The spiders, troglodyte looking bugs and earwigs that made for a more stressful than usual weeding adventure!
Oh the weed tree! How wonderfully magnificent you are, left alive if only to make sure that our front yard didn’t look entirely desolate.
Lastly, a picture of late in the game action. Notice the hedge chopped up and spread on the ground? Thanks the Cho and his dad both that and the one still left standing next to the house were pulled out. What you don’t see? The poison ivy that was crawling through the stupid, smelly thing. Did I ever mention that yard work was horrible business? Well – now I have.
Signing off for now: TheJessle
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