Landscaping 101, 102, and maybe 103

First of all I forgot to add a link yesterday to the Road To Here for the Silly Photo Contest.  Well here it is!!

And here are the photos from my landscaping, brush cutting, rat killing (no I didn't kill any rats, it's an expression) or whatever you want to call it.  See the before here....

Look Ma no BRUSH!!

The Lawn Obsession

My branches I cut, the old brush pile, husband did the dead branches, my helpers....3 dogs... and the chainsaw and the dog.  Now the lawnmower broke....I fixed it once but now gas is pouring out, don't think it's going to start, maybe that hose I took off earlier in the week was important?  We need to cut the branches so we can mow with the tractor and the riding mower...

Thanks to My Husband or My Lawn and Obsession

This is my husbands idea of a lawnmower, it's a finishing mower from PA. I argued against him buying it but now I'm glad he did since we mow acres and acres. It's his fault too no matter what he says. But it's our hobby together. We need to plant grass seed and it's been very cool so far this year.
He also has an Allis Chalmers 200, I can see it out the window, that's how I know what it is.
This is the view from the front door, this was 2004.
This is the front sidewalk in 2004.
I get obsessive about planting, mowing and watering, can you tell from the elephant ears? We didn't use the front door much.
This is my 2nd yard pond before I got it all finished, I need to work on it again. This was 2004. The labrador ate the pump and most of the tubing. He also did away with the ornamental frog.
This was May of last year.

And this gives you some sense of the size of the lawn. This was taken last May 3rd. The biggest compliment I ever got on my lawn was when my 4 year old grandson woke up @ a beautifully landscaped park in Kansas City once and asked if they were @ Grandma's house? He is a good boy. Yes I'm crazy when I get to planting things outside. The splotches up by the house in the last picture is a 50 ft wide circular garden with a fountain in the middle, has peonies and mimosa trees @ each corner, four o clocks @ the entrances, iris and wildflowers, some roses, coleus in the shady parts,wildflowers in the sunny parts, tried to start boxwood @ edges. Used to have spotlights on the fountain @ night, my daughter said it was a bit much, she helped me pick out the design, I think I need a pagoda somewhere don't you? I told my cousin (who swears she has a brown thumb) what I was doing making a huge circular garden and she said she guessed it was OK as long as I didn't like sacrifice anyone in the middle? I didn't say it was a Druid garden did I??? Some days I'm tempted to dig it all up and plant it by the house like a normal person but then I go out and see all the neat things coming up and all the work I have put into it and ...........

Back outside to finish, I'm riding the regular lawnmower, he's doing the tractor thing.