do...not...destroy...yard...erp

"what has the world come to?"

when we bought our house in 2003, the place was decked out and ready to move right in. all the walls were painted in a generous color scheme, lending itself to the feeling of being in a greenhouse/christopher lowell wet dream. no, it was lovely. and most of the color is still there, downstairs anyway. we've done a pretty good job covering up the other poo/natural colors that wrapped the walls upstairs. we showered them with lovely pinks, greens and blues. and i feel fine about those choices. painting is easy peasy. however, when you take on a house that really don't need taking on, there's really only one way, other than paint to do it...

destroy it.

and that we did. not anything inside, really. paint is all we really know how to do as of now. and moving furniture. and pooping on the floor. the prime place of our damage to date is in the back yard. the back half, the selling point, the oasis of our home, the hot spot for boozin' and firing up the fire pit has taken the hardest hit. not really because we wanted to, but because we just couldn't. this 5-10K of well-spent urban opulence (potential, with high maintenance) is what we inherited from the two men who owned the home before us. and we killed it. we had a pond, a well landscaped yard, a nice brick patio, a boozin' spot. almost all gone before our eyes.

this winter we realized that we'd neglected it to starvation and ugliness due to the fact that we weren't really using it at all. didn't want it. it didn't fit anymore, especially for a couple with a 3- year-old and an old dog who pooped everywhere. some recommended that we level it and start over. others said not to touch it. i was one of those, fearing that another potential buying couple might take a look at a boring grassy lump and turn right away. the yard was the main selling point. and it is, if you're into that stuff. i reasoned that anyone into a sexy back yard (or a sexyback yard) just isn't going to buy in our neighborhood during these po' times. with that, we decided to revamp the lump and keep it sexy but for the kids and sod it on up. so here we go. first milestone is to clean it all up. then we'll turn to sod king to give it a wig. then the face lift.

"...And what have my people done?"

i hope that something beautiful and useful will come of the mess we have made. i send to the universe my apologies to walter and ruben for ruining what they spent so much time cultivating. thankfully, they probably don't care and are busy flipping another house somewhere else...or not.