A Backyard Pruning Masacre
THE RAVENNA HOUSE We have had a couple of productive weekends. Lots of college football, family gatherings, and working around the house. Bubba and I cleaned up the kitchen, made mushroom pasta for lunner (you know, lunch-dinner), and took lots of photos for an upcoming guest post I'm writing for one of my favorite blogs (more on that soon).
What a good puppy, right! Not the best at shake, but he tries hard. And now that I'm being honest, he didn't really help with the cleaning, besides licking up crumbs left by Wilder. But he sure is good company, so there's that...
Garrett and Wilder had far different work on the docket. Tree pruning, fort-building, apple foraging and dirt-smearing. Well Wilder took part in the fort-building, apple foraging, and dirt-smearing at least.
As far as real work went, Garrett removed 4 out of the 6 trees in our backyard. Now I'm really not one to take out mature landscaping, but we planned to do so at the Ravenna House for a few reasons:
- Our lot is less than 3000sf, and six trees is overkill
- Many of the trees were in various stages of death
- They really weren't pretty
- Some of the trees were blocking the sun (a cardinal sin in Seattle)
Before I show you pictures from the tree removal, I'd like to preface them with a word of caution. Cutting down trees is not something I recommend as a DIY. It is definitely not something I would DIY. But Garrett is stubborn and he used to fall trees for the Forest Service, so he's not exactly an amateur. Plus I trust his judgement. Even with a chainsaw.
So here are some pictures of the backyard pruning massacre:
It looks like a big ol' mess right now, but with a little imagination I can totally see a beautiful patio, a farm table, dinner parties and golden, twinkling lights.
Once Garrett put down the chainsaw, Wilder got to go outside to play in the carnage. It's been quite fun for the little guy. I think he's hoping we never build a patio back there ;)
The next weekend Garrett rented a chipper - yes, there were a lot of Fargo references - and ground up all of the trees. It cost $300 for the rental and took a couple hours with the help of his sister and father (Wilder wasn't allowed to participate in this part), but he turned all those trees into wood chips. Hard to believe 4 trees fit in the back of a pickup truck, but indeed:
Those wood chips will soon be shipped off and used for mulch at gramma's farm. And then finally we will start on the patio. It'll probably get done just in time for the rainy season...
You can find more 'beautiful' backyard progress here and patio inspiration here.
xoxo
-Cathy
p.s. Love Emily's bright and brass kitchen. That backsplash is killer! Plus it's great to see she reused elements like the cabinets and didn't just gut the entire darn thing!
p.p.s. I think I like Steve's dream home the best...sorry Dana!
p.p.p.s. Zoey Deschanel's bright and cheery and beautiful LA office.