Day 2...Yard clean-up

Well, it started out as a dumb day.  Husband and I went looking at cars...such a frustrating experience.  After playing the car lot games, we came home with exactly the same thing we left with.  Well, we came home with lunch too.  Our original plan for this afternoon was to eat and then be lazy.  Well, that changed...I may have encouraged Husband to cut down the stupid fig tree branches that are lying on my clothesline, making only one line even useful.

Husband got out the chainsaw and for some reason, it refused to start.  Thinking back, we realized that it hadn't been started since the Great Capsizing of Summer 2011.  It was submerged for a good amount time, as Husband hung on to it for dear life.  Pretty sure the water wasn't really very good for it.  After several hours of taking apart, reassembling, cursing, going to 3 different stores to find the correct spark plug, and taking apart and reassembling some more, we finally got it to start!  Of course, I did nothing other than get tools and offer some moral support.  Woo hoo!  Let the games begin!

So, the fig tree was the first to go.  Now I can restring the line and get stuff out to dry with out getting attacked by the fig tree monster!  Then Husband asked what was next.  I got a little flustered and started pointing at random stuff.  By stuff, I do mean trees and such.  So after some discussion, we decided that the stupid trees on each side of the garage were next.  The first one came down and the house immediately looked better!!!  The second one also came down easily.  There was a plant behind the "tree"...looked like someone had bought a plant in one of those black plastic containers, set it down, and forgot about it.  The plant had grown all the way through the bottom and had to be seriously yanked out of the ground!  You can see it still "planted" in the picture below.  I didn't take pictures of the other side, but it looks really nice.

After that, we decided to tackle the dead (!!!) Japanese Maple out front.  It is so ugly!  I tried to hit the tree to see if it would budge.  It wouldn't.  Husband said we could hook it up to the truck with a tow strap (his solution for all immovable things).  I had my doubts...not sure why I ever doubt this method...it always works!  

It fell over so slowly, it was comical!

I'm planning to put some sort of pretty tree in its place.  We might add a couple of wine barrels with flowers in them out there as well.  It needs a little color now.  So many weeds still in the pathway though...it's not supposed to be that green...ha ha ha.  

After the cutting frenzy, we decided we'd had enough for today.  Hoping we can get more done tomorrow.  If nothing else, I would like to get as much in the dumpster as possible.  We've made quite the mess in our efforts to clean up.  Isn't that the way it always is?  Clean up the clean up...