40-Love

You walk out the front door and you hear a buzz, buzzzzzz! You walk out the back door and you hear a buzz, buzzzzz! I am afraid The Grumpy Gardener will be showing my house next year on his blog! 

It is that time of year again and the carpenter bees are enjoying the warm sunshine and fresh pollen. I found The Grumpy' Gardener's blog last night and I thought his plan off attack would be better than my husband swinging my tennis racket at the bees. However, at this point I am willing to find the other racket and join him no matter how silly we may look!

We will be making a trip to Home Depot very soon to look for Bayer Advanced Carpenter Ant and Termite Killer. Wish us luck!  40-Love...the bees are winning.  Please click on The Grumpy Gardener's article below to see what he suggests to do if you should find some buzy bees outside your front door.

Killer Bees Destroy House - The Grumpy Gardener - SouthernLiving.com

Front yard, Part Deux

We are almost finished with the new landing for the front yard.  We still need to do a little tweaking here and there before we pour the sand but you can see the shape it will be.  We will also be adding a new fence and landscaping.  One thing leads to another!

Daddy's little helper!

 While we were out working in the yard, our next door neighbor invited me into his back yard to see his rose bush in full bloom.  I believe he said it was a Lady Bank's rose.  This thing was huge!  It was cover with tiny roses and it loves to climb on fences and arbors.  The best part of the day was when he said he would give me a clipping for my yard.  Now I just need to find a place for it!

Backyard Before and After

Our house is over 100 years old, and when we moved in, the backyard was a mess to say the least.  The huge oak trees were beautiful, but they did not allow any sunlight to get through.  Therefore, we had no grass...just mud and weeds.  Previous owners had planted different things here and there, but the only plant that was surviving was ivy.  We had ivy everywhere!  The ivy had even covered the 6' fence in the backyard.

When we moved into the house, we had two small boys so it was imperative that we get the backyard in shape.  My husband and I are proud DIYers, but this project was WAY over our heads.  We attempted to get it done, but it was just taking too long.  We also learned that I was pregnant with our third child so I could not longer help my husband with the project. (Lucky me!)  We waited a few months and when we could no longer take it, we decided call in the professionals. They completed the project in three days!  It was amazing!  We had a retaining wall built, trees trimmed, concrete poured and sod laid down.  It was silly how excited I was over our grass!  I just wanted to roll around on it everyday even though it was early February!  The boys we so excited too!  They now had somewhere to ride their bikes and did not have to worry about the mud anymore. 

We also created a courtyard beside the house that included a fountain and fire pit.  I orginally wanted to use brick, but we opted to flagstone instead.  We have enjoyed it so much, and the whole project was worth every penny!  Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Ivy once covered this entire fence and hill.

The boys loved watching the construction.

This was our first attempted at the courtyard. 

This was also our attempt for a driveway.

This was right before a party we had during the spring.  Please excuse the ladder.  It was removed before the guest arrived.