Yard Work

I have a half-acre lot here to maintain, and while most of it is grass, there is a certain amount of heavy-duty pruning that needs to be done, mostly to keep bushes from tangling with our gates and with the overhead wires. I finally got around to trimming the euonymous bush by the shed, because it looked like it was planning on growing up (and through) the electric wires; and I thought that would be a bad idea. So I started trimming it at a low level, so I didn't have to stand on anything to cut, and also that the bush would be short enough to keep it out of trouble for two or three more years, at least. I got about half way around, and saw something that looked like someone had tossed a bag into the upper level of the bush:

But no, of course it was a bird's nest, so that meant I would have to stop trimming until I could figure out if there was anyone in there without disturbing them. You can't really tell from looking from below.

The end result is that the bush now looks like this:

Sort of a "bi-level" bush. It's out of the way of the power lines now, at least. You can see my mower there--everyone else, and I mean everyone on the street and probably in the whole neighborhood, has a riding mower. I mowed the front yesterday-- and without comment, my neighbor up the street swooped down while doing his son's yard, and did the section by the street again with his riding mower, on the basis that it needed mowing. (The riding mower does cut a lot more evenly because the bed is wider).

I've been slowly expanding the flower beds in the hope of getting rid of as much grass as possible, as I would rather weed than mow any day. For one thing, you come across interesting things while weeding. I put one weed in a small pot because it was kind of attractive,with variegated leaves; and I found this peculiar mushroom only a couple of feet from my neighbor's car, possibly from the old bark mulch that was stacked in that corner.

I am enjoying the warm weather--we've been able to open the windows and it was actually foggy yesterday morning:

The only downside is that all this unaccustomed physical activity has made me go to bed early, and miss adding posts to this blog!