today was the first day of true yard renovations for me. in the past, i was fighting constant battles with the weeds i inherited when i bought my house 3 years ago. they won all the battles but i’m gonna win the war. today, i laid down one (hopefully) final pass of weed killer to make way for the rocks that i’ll be filling my yard with. i’m gonna start with the back yard but today, i trimmed the large tree in my front yard and cut down the old gardenia bush that’s been a pain in the ass since day one. the bush was estimated at 50 years old. it was probably first laid when the neighborhood itself was erected. i even tried to sell it by posting some ads with pics on oodle and craigslist but no one bit. i consulted with one of my neighbors about the tree and vine problem that we have in common and i bought a pruner a while back to help ease our pain but some things can’t be done yet due to bird nests. god damn blue jays!
today was the pruner’s first day of use. i got a homelite electrical one from home depot. the major complaint about it online was that the chain kept popping off. mine did come off once but if you cut straight, you can avoid that problem completely like i did once i put it back on which wasn’t hard to do at all. it’s not that heavy and you do have to buy chain lube for it to work. if you’re a newb at this kind of thing like me, you won’t know that when you buy it or any other chainsaw. the packaging didn’t say anything about it. if that knowledge was in my head ahead of time, i could have saved myself another trip back to the store just to buy lube. so if you’re gonna buy this kind of equipment, make sure to find out if you need anything else for it to work to save yourself some time. lube only cost about 5 bucks and it’s enough to last the life of the pruner. i already had a long extension cord with a proper gauge. if you don’t, that’s something else for you to consider.
the gardenia bush was the first thing to go. the main problem with it was that it blocked my view from my front door and from one of my large sliding windows. the other problem was that it prevented me from opening my car door fully when i didn’t back it all the way into the carport when using my car trailer (i always park in reverse). a former friend used to be an asshole (all in good fun) and parked the side of the car i was sitting on next to it when we came back driving from wherever. plus, i couldn’t even walk in my own yard without having to go around it or duck the limbs from the large tree. and it could have been considered a safety issue since i couldn’t see around it from inside my house. there’s a small stump of the bush left. the end result was very refreshing. i can open my front door (weather permitting) and curtains (when i get some to replace the temporary blinds) to see the great view that prompted me to buy the house in the first place. goodbye gardenia. goodbye low-hanging tree branches. of course, you know this means i have to volunteer my time for something to plant some trees. i took away from the earth and i’ll have to give back.
getting the pruner was one thing. actually pruning is another. the last and most difficult piece of the puzzle was what the hell to do with the yard waste? i went online digging for info as far as where i could dump it but there just wasn’t anything reliable other than turning it into wood chips (which meant renting expensive equipment) or hiring a company to remove the yard waste (also expensive). I refuse to pay anyone to do anything that i can do myself and that i have the time to do. it was early in the afternoon and there had to be a solution. turns out, i could take it all to the mcleod road transfer station which isn’t far from my house but there was a fee for dumping. in my case, it turned out to only be 6 bucks a load. my car trailer now has another use other than hauling around my pedicab. and you gotta have your load covered or there’s another fee. glad i had a tarp. they’ll get you anyway they can, won’t they?
going to the transfer station was an experience unto itself. your car gets weighed when you go in. if you don’t have cash, they hold your credit card until you’re done dumping. when you dump, you go into a warehouse that has one side for yard waste, the other side for other trash. with that trash comes birds. not crows or seagulls either. it was full of ibises. the damn things were everywhere like they owned the joint; lurking like vultures. like pigeons, they don’t move for you until you’re close enough. don’t wear good clothes or shoes when dumping because the ground is soaked with nasty water and it kinda stinks in there. you gotta park and dump your own shit. when you’re done, you go down a ramp, the end of which has a public compost pile for those who want it. there’s a retention pond with what amounts to reclaimed water in the middle of the site. there are also spots to recycle electronics and a dumpster for regular recyclables like plastic but don’t bring any of that stuff with you if you don’t wanna pay the premium for it. you can only dump the big stuff on weekends. save the smaller stuff to dump separately for when you don’t wanna get charged.
then you get weighed again. they subtract your new weight from the old weight. that lets them know how much you dumped and you get charged accordingly. i made 2 trips; 6 bucks each. throw in a gallon of gas and i came out good versus hiring someone else to take care of it. i’m all about saving money. pruning was a good workout too. on my second trip, the warehouse supervisor stopped me because of the way i came in. he said there was a stop sign. i told him i didn’t see one. i parked and walked over to see if indeed there was one or not. there is one but it’s scratched and faded to all hell and has no reflective properties or color. other than its shape, you can’t tell there’s a stop sign there. add to the fact that it’s at the bottom of another sign rather than eye level of a car or truck like a stop sign is supposed to be, no one can see the damn thing. he acknowledged the condition of the sign but was adamant that it was there. well shit, it’s there but can’t nobody see the motherfucker. i told him they need to replace it. he said he’d put it under consideration. it wasn’t an argument or anything like that if that’s what you’re thinking. it was all cool but if safety was really an issue, it surely can’t cost that much for a functional stop sign, could it?
next up for me is to continue with the pruning but i’m gonna focus on the side of my house where the dump truck with the rocks will be entering. i have 2 trees to completely cut down and 2 others to trim. and then there’s the fence problem. i also inherited a bad gate and some excess fence since my rear neighbor put up a plastic fence of their own. that leaves me with the task of moving the old metal fence from the back yard to the side to function as a barrier for the rocks so they don’t bleed into my next door neighbors’ yard if any of that makes since. if you’ve been to my crib and seen my yard, you’d understand. those tasks should be taken care of within the month and the weeds that i need dead should be within a week. then, if all goes my way, and they usually do, i can get the rocks dumped for at least half of my yard and once that part is done, i can work on the other half and finally have a presentable yard.
then from there comes a house repainting. and then from there i can work on the interior. most people start with the inside and work their way out. i’m doing the opposite. when i roll up to my house, i wanna see something nice and i want others to do the same. right now, it’s not and hasn’t been since i moved here but i see the bigger picture. i’ve always envisioned having a picturesque house. i have the foundation for it. i have the view. i have the windows and structure. i have the location. everything was always there when i got the place. it was just a matter of things falling into place and me finalizing the vision i had for the house. at long last, i have that vision. i finally know what i want and what to do to get it and that increases my home value at a time when almost every responsible homeowner over the last few years has gone underwater. home ownership is awesome but you gotta know what you’re doing before you dive in, if you’re even in financial shape to do so. always think big but live within your means. the big stuff will come to you in time if you create that outcome.
