TIMBER!

We'd been planning to open up more yard for a while.

Lee had an issue with how much shade the pool was getting and wanted some of the trees blocking the sun removed. We had our friend Jeff come over with his tree cutting gear and get rid of the problem

After we moved all the shrubs out of the way, Jeff removed some of the smaller trees at the base of the big one we needed down
Then he put his skill into action, climbing the tree, cutting the limbs and taking the upper sections off a little at a time Jack was on hand to help, here he is guiding the rope for Jeff who, if you look carefully, can be seen about 40 feet up the tree

Before tying the trunk of the tree to his truck, Paul assessed the job and also made sure Jeff had not fallen from the tree

With a tug from Paul's pick up, the tree came down with a loud thud

The back yard hardly resembled what it was that morning. A great deal of clean up will be needed. We planned on one tree, and ended up taking down three in back. Why stop now? lets move to the front of the house

The old locust tree in the front corner of the house was nice shade, but Paul wanted a flagpole there. So down it came, and just in time. The locust tree was full of ants and even a mouse nest, the branches were quite rotten, so we saved ourselves from a potential problem

With trees down all over the property, some of them very large, we broke down a purchased a 25 ton log splitter. This should be helpful in getting the debris out of the way and also supplying us with a nice stack of fire wood for the winter months.

Poolside Color

We did not have much time to clean up around the pool during our first summer in the house. Since most of the projects inside the house are complete, we can focus this year on the outside, especially around the pool.
Before uncovering the pool, we power wahsed the parts of the house that had not been resided, like the bump out near the pool.

Even cleaned up, it still seemed drab, so replaced some mouldings and painted badly chipped the eves and trim. Better, but we need some color, after all this is supposed to be a fun place to spend time. Even the furniture we put outside was old and dull, so we might have bought new furniture, but then we thought, "Why?"
At $4 a can, spray paint seemed like a good idea, so we stocked up on some Caribbean colors like yellow, pink, bright green and blue. Hmmm this might just work!
We were happy. The cement patio will need to be addressed, some of it is crumbling around the fence, then we will stain it but that can wait for now.

A bright blue base around the bottom of the house and re-painted entry floor brightened up the patio and helped bring out the color of the pool while the light blue ceiling in the entry added a "sunny" effect.

Okay, we are not ready for House and Garden magazine yet, but its an improvement.