Friday, April 25, 2008

Weekend Hero's

Two weekends ago we (DH, Son Chris, and moi (that is me in french) did some serious yard work. I finally got my camera out and started snapping some pretty cute pictures! Here we go!


Enjoy
My precious DH with a machete! Oh my gosh .. that is a testosterone thing I am sure because of that pose!!! Directly to his right is a huge oak tree sitting right on the south side of our home. I have plans to build an English garden right around that tree... What do you think? We have been so busy for the first three years that we have been here on other peoples homes and now it is our year! YEAH!!!! I will take pictures as we go...


and this would be my son Chris!! More testosterone and holding another machete! They have been in the woods to their left cutting down so tough underbrush and some poison ivy!


We have 10 acres and if you look right behind Chris is the south end of the property..Chris is talking abut building a split level house on the top of the south three acres.. They are clearing some of the years of neglect...( Not us, the people before us.. We have been here three years and we are trying to work out from the middle! Whew ! what a job..




This would be little mother as she sits and watches as we move from the south end of the house to the north end where her and Dad live... It was a bit cool but she was so excited to see what we were doing.... I got her a beautiful quilt out and wrapped her up good...



This is what DH and I were up to... We built little Mother a garden. It is 4 foot by 16 foot landscape timbers two high... We thought this would be easy for her to work without walking in the garden.. We drove rebar about 18" long in each end and four on each side to keep the timbers stable. We laid landscape plastic to keep the weeds at bay as best possible.


Now we are looking from the edge of the new garden back to Mom. You can see the plain jane yard and house.. But give me just a minute and keep looking!


Just to the left of their deck between their home and our home is an Iris garden that I planted two years ago. Mother and Dad lived in the same home for 40 years in a small town about 16 miles from where we are now. She had a white plastic pot sitting outside her back door with her Iris growing out of it every year. When they moved I picked up that plastic pot and brought it to our home. I planted it right under a small grove of trees to the north of my house. Now I have some of her mothers Iris bulbs that my cousin has given me and I have them planted there also. I have an old 4 pane window and an Iris stencil on my back porch and I am going to stencil an Iris on that 4 pane window and at the bottom will paint Mom's and Grandam's Iris Garden. What do you think? I will take a picture as soon as I get it hung.




Here is the their Iris garden with my old wrought iron bench. It does not live there but am not sure what to do with it right now... What do you think about it being white?




Now here is little Mom last weekend (it was much warmer) We had gone out to the local nursery and she bought herself some flowers!!! Her and I planted her little garden with some tomato plants right here on the end closest to us (the plant in the foreground is a barberry and does not stay there, it was just sitting there for the time being, it goes in the ground this weekend)


She bought some Gerber Daisy's and lots of other little plants that she is tending over like a hen over her chicks.


We have to watch her pretty close or she will have them growing web feet.! We have well water and I can turn the pump off inside the house... Bless her heart , her short term memory is going and she forgets that she has watered once today...so I just turn the pump off and she runs out of water.


In the background you see the north end of my house.. so you see we do not live very far at all from Mom and Dad.... That is a good thing most of the days!
ahahhahaha

She has on her too cute little straw hat... She is in her element and she is one happy little camper. It is so wonderful to see her out here and smiling. Makes it all worth it....


She is still watering!
Now comes the hard part.... Me and DH landscaped the house... Remember how bad it looked? Well it looks like a new house now....





After we finished with the larger plants Mom went out and put some Marigolds between each of the larger plants.... She has her own hoe now... :) She is standing on the north end of their little house right under the computer room ( they both have computers) , Dad is the blogger but Mom just goes to jig zone to play jigsaw puzzles... We have her computer where she cannot get out on the Internet except to that one site... No telling the mess she could make!!!! Thanks goodness me and my DH has some computer knowledge!



Now there is a shot of the week.... She outworked me!!!



We bought her two more roses that are climbers and put her a trellis on the side of the house between their computer room and her kitchen window.. They are more yellow/orange than yellow. She checks them every day to see if they are running up the trellis yet?
She is a hoot.. Here she is planting some more Marigolds.



Here is the corner right by the ramp and it is planted with petunias and mums and various little purple flowers that she wanted... They have really taken hold and doing great.

Going right up the North end of the deck is some natural wood lattice and at the bottom we put two yellow climbing roses... She is so anxious to see them come up that lattice... They will grow pretty quick and I will take pictures as they climb. Right to the left of the deck you can see a Hydrangea. It will love that north side. We planted dwarf Nandina's with phlox between each Nandina. Oh it looks so pretty....




Here is a view looking from the North end to the south .... their little home faces due west but what you cannot see is a grove of trees about 40 thick about 25 feet from their deck... What beautiful shade they have most of the day ... The yard gets the sun till about 3 and then the shade moves over the house but the deck is in the shade all day with the covering... how nice is that!!!! You can just see the bird bath in the front of the picture.. I took an old milk can and took the lid off and put an old bird bath that had the base broken and walla! a bird bath.


You can just barley see to the north end of the house some plants in the shade. That is their A-Robic Septic Inc.system. We could not put in a septic system so we went with the A-Robic Septic system. The only trouble with that is it has three large lids and a control box sitting next to the front lid. It is not very pretty ..so we took some of the natural lattice and some 4x4 posts and made a three sided fence . Now you can only see the lids and control box from the other side.. We will be able to get to it with no problem. It takes about 3 gals of bleach a month. Anyway we then went back and planted honeysuckle on the lattice .. It will grow pretty quick and cover the lattice. Now was that a smart idea or what!
Hope you enjoy the tour.. I am getting better with the camera...
More landscaping today.... My house this time... YEAH!!!!!
So I leave you with this thought..
Conflicts are inevitable, combat is optional.

21 comments:

Linda said...

Denise...first you live in a wonderdul setting, I loved all your pictures...I felt like I was just visiting and looking through your garden (and Mom's). You certainly did a lot of work and everthing looks so pretty. I love the Iris plants and the little bench I like it just as is. I know all your hard work is going to give you so much enjoyment. Have a wonderful weekend...hugs, Linda

Sandra said...

Grat photos! The yard looks great, and grandma is the cutest thing ever!

Denise said...

Such lovely pictures. You did a great job on the garden, your mom is going to get so much enjoyment from it.

Anonymous said...

Your pictures are fantastic, thanks for the wonderful tour. As for your work with your mom and dad. . . God Bless You Girl:)
Hugs,
Deb

Sharon Brumfield said...

What fun!
I really enjoyed seeing your home place. It always makes you feel like you know someone a little better when you see where they live.
Keith would love to have some property to work. He has a John Deere tractor and loves to work the fields. The family has about 35 acres about 45 minutes from here and in teh past years he has planted watermelon and corn and peas. Not this year. Since we do not know where we will be he has stopped working up there. It is also where he goes to hunt. Our camper is on this property--so if we end up back in teh camper he will be close to that property for awhile. I hope that we don't end up there-we will see.
I love working in the yard and I look forward to having our own place again.
Thanks for showing us all the hard work.
And I enjoyed seeing your man and son.
It looks like a beautiful place to live.

Anonymous said...

The only thing missing in your pics is a pic of my dh with his chainsaw. He would have loved to be there. Thanks for the tour! I feel closer to you. Where was your dad when all this was going on? Blogging?

Karen H. said...

Good Morning Denise,
I enjoyed all of the pictures you shared. Yall sure have been busy there. You have it looking nicely now. Your Mother looks happy out watering her flowers and plants. After I posted last Wednesday, I didn't get a chance to visit anyone. My DH made it home from Canada Thursday morning and we have been busy all weekend. Seems like there is not enough hours in the day anymore. LOL. I did put up a new post this morning and some pictures as well. I just can't get used to taking or using my camera like everyone else does. We got more rain on Friday and yesterday was a really nice day. More rain is in the forecast for today tho. I am out now trying to visit some before I get off here to do my chores. Take care my friend and have a great day. May God Bless You and Yours.

Love & Hugs,
Karen H.

MelanieJoy said...

LOVE the pictures! I agree with Sharon that you feel like you know a person a little more when you see a bit of their world. I'm about to send you an email so I finish chatting then =)

Chris said...

Wonderful pictures! I loved the testosterone pics and your Mother is a cutie-patootie! I love all the plans you have for a beautiful garden. Great job!

Mary said...

Oh, Denise, I loved the tour of your property and your parent's home. I love that sign that says "The Walshes." That is so cool...

I am waiting to see all of this in bloom. It is going to be fantastic. You and your DH should be proud of yourselves for doing the landscaping for your parents. You mother really seems to be enjoying herself there.

Take care, my friend. You are good with the camera. I'm looking forward to more photos.

Blessings,
Mary

Mary Isabella and Kiley too! said...

You are transforming it into a beautiful haven...Wishing you the best Monday ever my friend....

Tammy said...

Oh, loved these photos! You all have truly been hard at work! How nice that you all did so much for her garden...is she your grandma? Mom?
(I wasn't quite sure by her nickname!)
Anyway, it all looks wonderful and makes me wish I could move right out there! :)

Katt said...

Mom looks so happy!....This was a great idea for her. 100 kudos for you sis. It looks great!

SweetAnnee said...

I so loved it ..little mom is adorable..and I love her new garden.
Hubby and son are AWESOME
thanks for the great pics
and for sharing..deena

Masked Rabbit said...

Great pics Denise and what a wonderful place you have! Such space. I love little Mother's garden. It's brilliant. Thanks for taking us on a tour.
How's you now? Been thinking about you.

Tracy said...

Awwww thank you for sharing. Wonderful pictures. Your grandma looks so happy!

blessings said...

Oh how I would love to have some land! But I'm thrilled with what I have =) That little mom is a worker isn't she?! I love that her place is so near to you. Have a great night. Blessings... Polly

Anonymous said...

I LOVE the tour!!! And I think the bench would look wonderful in white. LOVE benches. Great to see your mom too! ((( hugs ))) D

Love Bears All Things said...

I think that is just precious but what happened to you taking care of your back?
Mama Bear

Rose of Sharon said...

Lil grandma is sooo cute! I love little old ladies who are not afraid to work and get out there and garden! That is how my grandma Ethel was! You guys did such great work! Everything looks so nice. You are blessed with such a great piece of land!

Hugs, Sharon

sparrow's song said...

I've worked my way down your blog this morning and have thoroughly enjoyed my visit but this tour through blessing your little mother was the sweet icing on the cake. I would have to *applaud* you on a wonderfully told story into which I was totally absorbed. Thank you for the glimpse into this corner of your life.