What a mess!

May... almost the end of May... and we're finally getting started on the yard work.  The excavator has been here twice this week to work, but still hasn't done what I'm waiting to have done, so that I can do my thing... the landscaping!  That is my work, I know just what to do, I have all but two items ( a Japanese Maple and a Dogwood tree) lined up and waiting to be put in place.  I would be close to finished by now except for one thing- a very, very wet spring has kept the excavator and the contractor from coming back to finish their work.  Until the yard is graded I can't plant or build anything, and the contractor has to clean the siding, install the air conditioning unit, install the downspouts, etc., etc. So, I still can not proceed with my landscaping and grass seeding.  I had really hoped to get that work done before the insects arrived and the weather got to hot, but that didn't happen.

There were some things we could do while we waited,and that was tearing down... The pond is going- no more water gardening for me.  I am saving my mini water lily and will have it in a deck container.  The labyrinth is going- no one ever used it and it was a huge task to keep it looking manicured.  The patio and fire pit are going- why have a patio where no one will use it?  The bird feeding station is going- I'll be downsizing to one seed feeder and one suet cage, and will still feed the hummingbirds and Baltimore Orioles.

The following pictures are of these things in progress.  I'll post throughout the summer as things are happening.

Mid May, finally a sunny day!  We are setting up our patio furniture out even though the deck has not been treated yet.  I took this picture of Rod enjoying the sunshine from around the corner on the front porch.

    I am standing in a low, very wet spot in the yard.  And when I say wet, I really mean swamp like! The labyrinth is in front of me, the pond beyond that, and the patio to the right.  The bird feeding station is behind me.  When these are all torn down the excavator is going to fill it all in with dirt right up to the driveway and to the deck attached to the garage and hopefully it won't be so wet anymore.  I'm thinking of leaving the first row of pond rocks and just planting a few shrubs there.  Those are the heaviest rocks, and I think I might leave them there for a few more years at least.

 Chris and Harley get started digging up the patio stones, Chris has moved all the field stones that lined the labyrinth, and there were many... Harley's football is near by, he'd rather have Chris throw the ball for him.  Now you can see the bird feeding station that will be gone one day very soon.  It's leaning like that because of black bears who occasionally stop by for a meal.

Chris is looking for same sized stones, when he moves them he stacks them in piles of equal sizes. I'll use them to build a new patio, and having them seperated by size will make that job so much easier...such a good boy..

And this is where the patio stones will be moved to... there's so much to do, I have the blueprint in my mind, I can't wait to have it finished and not have a mud yard anymore!

Tom the excavator starting on the driveway turn around, I'm standing in the low spot again.. squish, squish, squish...

I dug the Hosta out of the labyrinth in the wet spot, they were in about 6" of water.  It's amazing that they even grew.  This is the first thing I planted at the new house.  While roto tilling the ground I put a small ding in the siding...oops!

A picture of Tom from Chris's room.

And just now I noticed that another major job is getting started!  My garden space is being plowed!  Our amish neighbor had agreed to do it, then forgot about it.  But, he's here today, so now I can get out old Bessy, our ancient rototiller, and start working in the fertilizer (bat poop).  Maybe I can have everything planted by next week! John Horst, get your taste buds ready for sweet pickles!  I had to be stealthy about taking these pictures, one is through a screened window, the others from Chris's room when Sam's back was turned!