Last Phase

The landscape guy, Matthew, called this morning and the last phase of the outdoor renovations are set to begin on Monday.  **Deep, mournful sigh**  I would much rather spend the money on doing stuff inside the house, but as this is the last task for the outside work, we might as well get it over with.

I will try to take a Before video, not only to show how bad the yard is (remember the Path of Doom..??), but to document the changes.  It's to take two months...ugh...though by Spring everything should be done and dusted, and we will have a totally new look.  In theory.  We are also having a drip irrigation system put in, instead of the water-wasting sprinkler system that marginally works now; this will help conserve water in the blazingly hot Summer months.

We will be getting a stone wall along the road in front of the house, then a stone pathway leading through the front yard to the back deck--now a slanting slope of ankle-breaking danger; the Path of Doom off the back deck will be stone steps leading down to the lower area where we are having a new lawn put in for the dogs.  Right now it's pretty much scrub grass and weeds. 

The landscaping at the moment is minimalist, and littered with hodge podge stop-gaps of random bricks, stones, and what looks like scrap materials collected from a junk yard.  The elderly couple who owned the house did absolutely nothing to change or improve things, so in effect the yard is about 15 years beyond neglect.  **Another deep, mournful sigh**

I'm having trouble visualizing all the changes, though regardless how it turns out, anything is better than how it looks now.  Matthew and crew will remove most of the dead and/or dying shrubbery from the front, and the sad, dead Oak tree skeleton in the side yard, then when we get to the end of all this, we will get new trees and plants.  Matthew assures me we can find things the deer won't eat.  Mostly.  Hopefully.  

Course, I'm doomed for the vegetable garden I wanted, and won't be able to recreate the gloriously beautiful garden we had in Edinburgh, but whatever.  I guess it's a "when in Rome" situation really.  The deer aren't going anywhere, and it makes no sense to plant fodder for them.

So, in closing, let me reminisce for a moment on what was, and will never be again...the garden in Edinburgh.  Blasted wildlife...