The Outside
a huge mess that transformed into a beautiful environment
Our home
mid July 2008

When we started cleanup of the yard we thought
we would never get to this point! We are very happy
with how the yard is turning out.



Walking up Walnut Street the house is now clean
and inviting. The huge old Ash trees in the front yard
provide lots of shade. We have planted a couple
Maples to replace the Cedars as we know we
will have to remove one more.



looking into the dog yard on the north side of the house.
We have added a small gazebo for some shade. We still
need to add a deck area as you come out the north
door but it is nice none the less.
The Gardens
mid July 2008

The yard from the front porch. We have added a low
split rail fence on one side and now have a nice garden
along the front road. Sara and Gail spend a lot of their
free time out there.


We have lots of bird feeders now and
have a number of birds that come when
it is cooler. The Hummingbirds are regular
many many times a day. In the front yard
at this feeding station and the one in the side yard.


There is a garden as you come out of
the north door into the side yard. It was
pre-established with daylilies but now
holds peonies, flowering bushes and
some annuals.

Beautiful double daylillies found all over the yard.


There is also a smaller 2nd daylily bed. Both daylily beds will hold Bluebird houses next spring.

In addition to the flowers we have discovered two apple trees, a pear tree (covered with pears this year), two plum trees plus Mulberry and Pecan.

making progress . . . . . . . .
A sidewalk!

When we started cleanup in the front yard
we discovered a concrete sidewalk under
the dirt and trash.

The house the end of March.

The front yard is now raked and clean.
Abby has a horse tire swing on the tree.
The lumber for the new porch is along
the south side waiting.

The other people in town have stopped to say
they are so happy with our progress.


Chuck and Davin with the first fire to burn trash. This is an almost daily task.
We now have two fire pits - one on each side of the house.

Building a new safe dog yard.

 

The original "dog pen" .
Access was out of an area outside the back door.
The doorway was a hole in the house wall, which
had steps placed up to it. The dogs could get
under the house. We raked and cleaned but plastic and
metal and glass just kept coming up through the earth.



trash piled out by the barn including a stack of
sheet rock allowed to simply be destroyed by weather.


A bag of trash that was dug out of
the turned over dirt behind it.
We do this over and over and over!

what was . . . . . . .

When the snow was gone
the mess was worse!!!
There is simply trash everywhere
you look. This is the north side
of the house.

The plastic on the side of the
house just beyond the wooden
box will become the north
door out of the kitchen as
there was a door there before.

Chuck added the plastic
and insulation, as the old
tenets simply put up sheet rock
on the inside and lived like that?


We spent the first days gathering up trash.
Till we had this huge pile by the garage.
There are still piles all over the pack of the property.

We are slowing burning what we can and some local guys
have hauled away 3 loads of metal scrap plus
two freezers and a car.
There will be plenty more trips!!!



Since the house was deserted awhile the yard is overgrown, but it holds
tons of potential! There are a great number of trees including many
fruit trees. Spring should bring lots of interesting surprises.

The snow and long grass hide a lot of work
but the view is very nice. There are no houses
on two sides just open fields..
 
The downside is the yard was
not taken care of ay all.

It will require a lot of work to
bring it back to what it looks
like it was years ago.