where the wild things are

as everyone knows, the pooches come first. always. i mean look at their little faces.

so it was only fitting that the first project at the new place was to get a new fence. portions of the yard were already fenced-in when we bought it, so i didn't think it would be that big of a deal. BIG mistake. we got several bids and quotes, but not until contractors came on-site did they realize just how much work it was going to be--and recanted on their initial bids. when we walked to check the property line--i kid you not--there was a good 3+ foot pile of solid leaves, debris, etc. and not light, fluffy, crunchy leaves--wet, slimy, heavy leaves covered in mud along with piles of shingles, lumber, shutters, you name it. who knew there could be so much stuff covering the perimeter of the yard??? i mean from the picture on the listing flyer, it looks so innocent. it was described as a yard "perfect for an afternoon game of croquet"...

i really wish i had taken more pictures--or any pictures at all for that matter, of the before. this is all i have--and it was a at least 6 hours into the work. the fence guy said he'd be glad to clear it but just add a zero to the original bid. i am kidding, but it wasn't going to be cheap, so we decided to just attempt to clear things out on our own. 

 there is really no way to explain how much work it took just to get to the point where you could see the actual ground. 2 days of work resulted in 65 ridiculously heavy bags of leaves. and a brush pile plentiful enough to construct your own treehouse.

i'm not sure how you spent your NYE & new year's day, but i have a feeling it was better than mine. all of my friends said they had "the best new year's ever" & all i have to show for it is a bunch of callouses on my hands.

and then we had to drag all 65 bags of leaves out to the street...

and finally, last weekend we were able to rent a mulcher. (my sweet dad spent a day & a half helping out!)

that big pile of brush looked like we'd have enough mulch for the entire neighborhood. but all we got was this:

but, the final product was well worth it. the dogs can't escape to go chase the CAT bus (like they have done before) & i feel better just knowing 17 tons of leaves are out of the yard. now i just need to paint the two front gates white. any volunteers?

we ended up losing a few feet of property behind the fence due to historic neighborhood restrictions on cutting down trees, but oscar & alfred aren't exactly greyhounds looking for more space to run around in. and it leaves a nice buffer between our yard & the neighbors. all in all it feels very nice to be able to check one thing of the list. fence = done.