Make Like a Tree and Leave

When we bought our house, one of the selling points was the pre-existing landscaping and trees. Our yard had a peach and two plum trees, and for several years, we enjoyed wonderful fruit from all three trees.

But all good things must come to an end.  Fruit trees don’t have a long life expectancy to begin with, plus we had bores (sp?) and several freezes  did a number to all three of them.  We haven’t had fruit in several years, and finally, the trees gave up.  Shortly thereafter, my ivy and grapevines decided the trees would make an excellent habitat, so they took over. It looked like the trees were alive, but alas, they were covered in vines.

In an attempt to up the resale value of our house, we enlisted the help of Dr. Alyx “Chain Saw” Shultz to chop ‘em down.  Alyx loves her chainsaw.  She gets great pleasure from sawing, trimming, logging….generally anything that involves the chainsaw.  You can see by the look on her face that she is completely enjoying the project.  Alyx is so awesome!  She has an infinite knowledge of chainsaws, veterinary medicine, marathons, equine science, and statistics. 

While Alyx was annihilating our yard, I, on the other hand, stood back and acted like a girl.  I checked on the cookies, moved limbs, asked her if she was wearing proper eye protection, and made dinner.  It’s as if we were married in the 1950s. Scott and I did, however, manage to make an impressive brush pile, and if we weren't in city limits and if our shed weren't five feet from the pile, we would have a bon fire worthy of our college days. 

Alyx is about to move to Kentucky to be on faculty at Murray State University, and she is just giddy about the vast amount of trees that she will get to saw down once she moves. 

Another endearing quality about Alyx is that Patsy likes her.  For those of you that know my dog, she likes my mom and dad, Erin, maybe Scott’s mom and dad, and now Alyx.  That speaks volumes to Alyx’s character and we will miss her and her chain saw.

Note: Patsy approached Alyx on her own accord.
I did not force this behavior as I typically do.

Our yard now looks naked.  We were going to put a garden in along the fence, but it’s so bare.  We need a little protection from the alley as any creeper could stand back there and look right into the yard. Any suggestions for filler in this area are needed and welcomed.