Our Yard

We spent a little time after dinner in our backyard, all of us. The girls played while Alan and I marked the locations for our fruit trees, three of which came by UPS today.

The girls really like to play outside. Especially Katherine. We have a nice spacious back yard and a beautiful playset. But I hate going out there. Not because I don't like to be outside, but because of the state of our yard.

First, it's not fenced in except for an akward chain link fence around the pool area that blocks off the backyard from the back door and cuts the yard in two.

The area the kids are allowed to play in is not fenced in allowing them to run through neighbors backyards and making mom and dad chase down the youngest one. And if we weren't chasing kids around, there's no nice place to sit down and watch the kids or to read and enjoy being outside. I'm sorry, a plastic lawn chair just doesn't suffice it for me. Will do in a pinch but it's not inviting.

There's a lot of junk that is sitting around the yard and by the garage and driveway because Alan has been really too busy to put stuff away and to throw out junk. We have thrown a lot out already though because the lady who lived here before us left plenty to get rid of.

Our trash cans are just tossed to the side of the house and just don't look good. Last year's solution of putting gravel along the side of the garage to set them on in order to try to make it nicer seems to have failed.

We don't have proper storage for our garden supplies so they end up sitting out and rotting (or getting lost in our garage that also needs help).

And speaking of rotting, our storage shed has rotted out and is being eaten by termites.

Our wood pile is in two different places and has grass growing up over them. And we just don't have a neat solution for our woodpile yet.

Plus we are still dealing with years of overgrown brush that needs cleaning up and just keeps on growing. Although we have made some great strides in that department.

Yes, we have lots of work to do. Lots and lots. In the meantime I feel like we must be the junkiest people on the block. Maybe if we just cleaned up the area by the garage and driveway I wouldn't feel like that so much.

My dreams for our yard:
To have the brush cut down to a minimum with all old stumps gone and some pretty flowering shrubs and flowers planted around the foundation of the house.

A nicely fenced in back yard. I love a fenced in yard. It gives a yard order, a great border and a sense of this place being our place to retreat to. Not to mention it corrals the kids.

A privacy screen for our trashcans.

Our wood pile in one place, away from the house and kept neat and grass trimmed.

A new shed that has shelves and cabinets to store our garden and pool supplies in.

Our garage and sunroom cleaned up.

Some pleasant flower beds bordering the new fence and our vegetable and fruit gardens thriving well.

Our pool area cleaned up and organized with potted flowers and a comfortable seating area. And the hole in the concrete repaired.

That old and akward chain link fence removed to create more space to run and play and so we can get in and out of the house without having to run to the front door every time.

And a nice place for mom and dad to sit and watch the kids, read a book, and enjoy some fresh air with the rest of the family.

I just hope we can take care of all this this spring and summer because I really want our yard to be a nice backyard haven for all of us and in plenty of time for us to enjoy it.