So, I felt the urge to clean up the backyard today. Maybe because we’ve had a three day weekend (that might end up turning into a four day weekend due to the fires). Or because today is the first day in a long time that’s been less than 100 degrees (92 is the new 72, y’all!). Or even because I’ve been pretty lazy this weekend and wanted to do SOMETHING.

Whatever the reason, the backyard really needed some cleaning.

Looking at the following picture, you might think that it’s fall time in a normal place.

Mid/Before Shot

But no. It’s all thanks to this miserable summer we’ve had. The trees all over the place are dying.

Our maple is completely gone- it was never meant to withstand such harsh conditions.

The maple is so dead that it’s starting to split. We need to chop it down soon before it gets dangerous.

And now our Arizona Ash tree is tempted to give up, too. That combined with the leaves from the live oaks in March that we never got around to cleaning up made our yard one messy place.

Some people claim that it might rain again soon. At this point, I hold the belief that rain is a mythical creature, like dragons, unicorns, phoenixes, and the magical wizarding world of Harry Potter. But just in case it actually does rain again, it probably would be good to clean up this potential fire hazard before it gets all moldy and heavy and wet.

So we got to work.

Have I ever said how much I love this guy?

So, after 4 hours of raking, leaf blowing, and bagging, we ended up with the grand total TWENTY TWO bags. 22. Very full, big, black bags of leaves.

This, by the way, isn’t including the area directly next to the huge live oaks, which we have lovingly dibbed “The Forest”.

 

After all this work was done, everything was put away, and we had showered to rinse out all the nasty dirt and grime, Jared asked me, “So, how do you think the backyard looks?”

My honest response? “Uhm… Not really great. But I feel better about it.”

The “After” shot

He just had to laugh. I’m sorry, but can you blame me for that response? Between the lack of rain, the extreme heat, and being buried underneath the leaves, we really don’t have much back there anymore except dirt.

But as I said, I still feel pretty good about it. I came, I almost conquered.

Until I wake up tomorrow morning lacking the ability to move my arms because they hurt so badly from all that raking.