Vacation? What vacation?

I've been on vacation all week, but unlike most normal people, MY vacation was spent doing yard work!    Doesn't that sound like fun?!  NOT!    We have a LOT of yard -- 2-1/4 acres worth of yard!  AND, lucky us, almost all of that consists of grass we have to cut!  WHAT were we thinking when we bought this house 13 years ago?!  I can tell you with utmost certainty that it was NOT about how old we were going to get and how much work it was going to take, especially if one of us has the nerve to go and get cancer (again!) and I'm stuck doing all the yard work!   You can bet your sweet bippy that that is not something that ever crossed our minds!  (Of  course, this is all said tongue-in-cheek, so just chill out, k?)  

That being said, I've been working my butt off every day of this so-called vacation.   First thing was to spend Sunday with my dear neighbor, Jessica, mucking out the chicken coop!  I'm pretty sure this was hands-down, the nastiest job that needed to be done!  Abby had cleaned some of it out, but there was a LOT left, and when I say a LOT, I mean a BUTTLOAD!  We use the "deep liter" method in the winter, which means the coop does not get mucked out, and we just keep adding sawdust, so the resulting composting chicken poo helps to keep the coop warmer in the winter.    It was probably about 1-1/2 feet deep, and in an 8x16 foot coop, that's a LOT of poo and sawdust!  So, now that the coop is cleaned out, we've been letting the floorboards dry and will be putting in fresh sawdust.  We're also going to be making a new roost and nest boxes for them.  Hopefully, that will get done in the next couple days. 

To give you an idea of the amount of poo we had to shovel out, all the "brown" in this picture in the front and on the side of the coop used to be IN the coop!  We spread it out there because the chickens love to scratch around in it for bugs and stuff!   That tire is there for me to get some cardio and strength training done.  All I need is a sledgehammer!  If you have an extra, or know of someone who does, I would certainly appreciate hearing about it!  

I spent the rest of my days planting flowers and using my incredibly awesome walk-behind trimmer to trim all around the yard.  It's my hope that now that it's under control, it won't take anywhere near as long to get it all done.  I also cut the grass in the  front yard, around the U-shaped driveway, and the entire area to the west of the barn, and all around the chicken coop.  I then power-washed the deck stairs and of course, power washed the goose ponds. While I was trimming on the west side of the barn, I decided that the trees needed to be cleared out.   Our friend, Aaron Knight was over to help out and he used the push mower to clear out most of the ditch.  The grass and weeds were more than two feet tall, so it was a LOT of work.  The grass and weeds around the trees were the same height, and it was driving me nuts!   I didn't think to take "before" pictures, so you're stuck with just the "after" pic.  If you look at the grass behind the trees, that's what the ditch was like and that's what was 2 feet in front of the trees and all in between them!!!!   

That patch toward the left of the picture is actually some wildflowers (that is pretty much how tall all the grass and weeds were!).   When you get up close, they are beautiful yellow flowers that I just didn't have the heart to cut down.  

In the picture above, you can see how the ditch is cut down.  I wish I had a "before" picture!  
Today, I only had left to trim the back and side yards, which includes in our little forest area, and then cut the rest of the back yard.  It took about an hour to trim the back yard, and then I started on the side.  I trimmed on the house side, and then went to work tackling the "forest" area.   It wouldn't be so bad, but we have an astronomical amount of burdock.  Burdock is Wisconsin's answer to Velcro, only it clings to EVERYTHING, not just the other half of Velcro!  LOL     While this may not sound like a lot, it really truly is!   

Here's the "before" and "after" pictures of our little wooded area on the north east side of our home. 

A lot of the "weeds" here, aside from the burdock is creeping charlie.  The creeping charlie is slowly starting to take over.  I definitely not mind if the creeping charlie took over completely.  I'd take that over the gigantic burdock any day!  

While I was trimming in the woods,  I wasn't really paying attention to the time, as I kind of get "in the zone" when I'm trimming.  Just concentrating on what I was doing, mostly because that sucker is dangerous!  I always wear my work boots, but I still have on shorts and a tank top.  Of course, I wear safety glasses.  This is the only piece of yard equipment that I use safety glasses with and insist everyone else that uses it wear safety glasses.  In fact, if I  could find a full face mask for lawn equipment, I think I'd buy one!  This sucker shoots out more crap than you can believe!   Suffice it to say that you really need to keep your mouth closed when using it!  

Here's some other general pictures of the yard.  Many of them are before I trimmed.  

This one is looking west, from our driveway.

This is the front of the house.  I need to trim the bushes, but I can't do that until fall.  

Rufus likes to play King of the Hill! 

The GORGEOUS Fuchsia I bought at Valentine Greenhouse.  Absolutely the most gorgeous and stunning fuchsia I've EVER seen!  The flowers are just STUNNING!!  

Back to my trimming . . . So, I was trimming along, and about half done, when I somehow manage to hear what sounds like a lawnmower behind me.  What the? . . .  I turn around, and there's GREG RIDING TOWARD ME!     He wasn't exactly a knight in shining armor, and not quite a prince riding to save his princess on his beautiful white horse, but you know what? He doesn't need a white horse or even a nice shiny new zero turn mower (I wish!). He's MY prince!  

I'm going to end this right here, because this is awesome way to end the evening!  Blessings to everyone!  

Julie

 Greg's Go Fund Me