Transformations and dozers.....

I started my Saturday morning at 6 am, with coffee, knowing that the backhoe/bulldozer would be here about 7:30 am. Sure enough, they showed up. Ken, his son and nephew...all ready to jump in and get to work!

The lady that built this home loved rhodies and roses, and all other sorts of large plants. After 35 years, the place needed some thinning out. I had 7 trees removed last year and two large ones about a month ago.
This is the stump to one of the trees at the back left of the house...the other was just as large. about 3 feet across the base. Although we didn't remove these stumps, Ken did remove the other 7 from the other areas.

My dream is to create a peaceful space, install my pond (that I bought several years ago), install my fountain (that I bought several years ago) and get my vegetable garden started. I miss my old one.

The back of the house...before....

As you can see I started cutting down the 10 foot tall Rhodie earlier, and the tall european alderberries.

and after,,,, ahh, plenty of space for a stone patio and ....with the pond in place, ready to install.

The mound of dirt behind the pond is where the top level pond will go, to run water into the other.

Kelly bought me a beautiful red japanese maple for mother's day which I am going to plant next to the pond, to divide the upper area and lower patio a bit....it will look great next to the pond.

The side yard, before.....

and now where the vegies will grow in the same space,,,with my fountain placed at the rear of the section, overlooking the garden.

I was able to save one unique rhodie and place it where I removed two small birch trees that morning. you can see it next to the purple rhodie, in the 'before' side yard photo,,,,I had to trim it back a bit...but I think it will make it.

It is a beautiful light peach color. this is near the back corner of the property and will fill in nicely when I get the back fence installed.

Yes, lots of work,,,Brandon, Kelly and her girls all helped haul brush, load the trailer, pick through and get out the roots....we crashed hard that night. Thank you!!!!!

Now that the space is cleared out, I'll start adding to my dream throughout the next year...stay tuned.....oh, and look for the house to be painted....I think I've settled on a medium tan color, the trex deck has a red tint,,,I'm going to invest in one of those paint programs to play with the color scheme....anyone up for a painting party??