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Behind Door Number One

Have you ever watched those TV Game shows where they have a couple of doors and behind one is a grand prize? Well, this weekend the hub and I found out what was behind our Door #1. The hubby and I are starting the beginning phases of landscaping our backyard. Our first step, was to clean out the area behind our garage. When we moved in, there was about 2 feet of walking space behind our garage the rest of the area was covered in vines. Vines were growing on the roof and generally it was a mess. Not wanting the vines to take over the roof, we I started to clear out the vines last fall. But after we cut a million vines with only a pair of clippers we gave up and decided to clean out the rest in the spring. Spring came around and we didn't do much until one day when I was sick a few weeks ago, I ran into our gardener. I showed him the mess and asked if he knew of anyone who could come clean it out. I could tell he was actually, quite happy for me to broach the subject of cutting down the vines from the glimmer in his eye. He had told me the previous owner(s) didn't want him to touch the vines.

After further discussion with the hub this weekend, apparently our gardener has been with our house for the past 15 years! I think he has been with 2-3 owners before us. Isn't that amazing? Anyhoo, he was quite happy to talk to me about cutting them down, as I got the distinct impression they annoyed the hell out of him. He offered up a price and when I said I needed to consult my husband, he chop off some money. He told me to check with the hubby and to leave him a note and he would come the following weekend to clear the area. So I checked with the hub and I left him a note.

So the following weekend we were expecting the gardener to come but he didn't show, then the next weekend and then the next. Because I am generally lazy, I never called to see if the gardener actually got my note and figured I would do it when I got around to it. This past Saturday morning, when I was finishing up my bowl of cereal, I went to put the dish in the kitchen sink when I notice a stranger in my backyard holding a chain saw. Now this is an odd experience for me. It's not real often that a fellow with a chain saw is in my backyard. It took a moment to realize that the gardener had indeed gotten my note and that he had just decided to show up at my house on some random Saturday to cut down my vines. SInce I wanted the vines gone anyway I wasn't really annoyed as much as I was surprised to see a man holding a chain saw.

Anyhoo, because I don't like talking to strangers I made the hubby go outside and talk to the chain saw rearing guy. Our gardener guy must have been hiding behind the garage because he surfaced after the hub went out. The hub gave him our instructions and the guys worked for a few hours cutting down the vines. When they left we had the biggest pile of vines I have ever seen in my life! They had to come back the next day with another truck to get rid of it all.

So after they left on Sunday, behind our door #1 was a huge 12x12 space! It was such a great find because most of our backyard is taken up by an orange and a lemon tree. This space will be a cool place to hang out. There is so much space we can have a bbq area or lounging area in the back. It's very exciting. Who knew there was that much space behind those vines? There is so much space that the great big trees and ferns now have breathing space and are not being suffocated by the vines.

We even became the proud owners of some new stuff. Behind the bushes was this antique wood burning stove thing that must have been there since 1939 when the house was built. I am not sure how to use it but I plan to find out! We also found a huge peanut butter bucket (it's so big I can never imagine that it was filled with peanut butter - who would need that much peanut butter?) that will make a nice big planter and some other weird planting pots that accumulated over the years. There was even some composting materials and some weird contraption to grow vegtables.

Now our big task is to figure out what to do? The hub has some ideas but we would like to consult his brother and also his parents as they both have pretty cool backyards. If any you people have any ideas feel free to submit your drawings or ideas.

Comments

Unknown said…
How about a koi pond?
Great Gazooo!! said…
as part of the Earth Day celebration here at Fox we each were given a tree to plant...if you're interested I could drop it off soon, before it grows out of control in my apt.
Anonymous said…
A koi pond sounds like a cool idea!

And yes, i will take your tree for our house!

Thanks Guys!

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