Getting still more done --

Well, not ME, actually . . . I haven't personally done a darned thing for several weeks now!  But we did hire a guy who came over yesterday and trimmed up all of our live oaks and cut back those giant Photinia bushes that had reached 10 feet tall or more!  They were interfering with the phone and computer lines running into the house from that side - not to mention making it next to impossible for the Entergy guy to read the meter on that side of the house since that side yard with the A/C's and the generator stays locked so he can't get in there to read it up close. 

First they cut off the branches that had grown through the fence --

Well, all those bushes have been cut all the way down to a foot off the ground.  They look dead at the moment, but we know they will have grown right back up by the end of the summer.  Photinias are pretty much indestructible.  They're evergreen, along with the Holly bushes that are also out there (but the holly bushes are NOT 10 feet tall!), but when they grow back they'll be even more attractive because brand NEW leaves are red - something that doesn't happen that much once they get so huge.  Here are some pictures of how they look if they're in the sun and are growing new branches:

 

 

They won't actually be entirely in the sun, obviously, but they will at least be growing all new branches so I'm hoping we'll get to see red leaves this time for a while anyway.  We'll see.



First they cut them down to the top of the 6-foot fence -- but there were no
branches left at that height anyway, so we asked them to just cut them all
the way down so they can come back up in a wider but shorter version.



That side of the house IS a bit less private now, but that Elm tree that has grown back up since the hurricane a few years back provides enough privacy, so we're not too distressed by having the photinias gone for the moment.

 

They were eventually cut all the way down to a foot off the ground. 
Glad that elm tree is there so that end of the house is at least a little less visible anyway.

Then once they got those bushes cut back, they went on to trimming up the four Live Oaks. 

 

 

 

Now that those lower branches have been removed it's actually possible to see the horses out in the back pasture from the back porch.  Nice.  (Those branches had come down so far Mark couldn't even mow under them before!)  So once we get that porch divider put up (that same guy is going to do that for us), we can enjoy sitting out there in the evening since it's nice and screened.  But right now, those cats keep pooping all over the floor out there so we do NOT generally spend any time out there at the moment.

 

Oh - we're also getting a new door that already has a dog door in it for the back porch, too. 

 

I had ordered a new super-large dog door for the porch back of the living room because once we get the dog yard divided (next Saturday) the dogs will need access to a separate dog door once the porch is divided from the area with the current dog door.  But the replacement dog door that I ordered a week or so ago is so large that it is too tall to fit into the porch wall below the screens.  Of course, that's just as well because now we can use that really huge dog door to replace the one currently in the sleeping porch door.  That way when Gigi grows up she will still be able to get out through that door!

 

Anyway, once we get that new storm door with a dog door already in it, we'll be able to just open the interior house door and the dogs will be able to go on out on their own - or stay on the porch - whatever they want.  But we will NOT have to go out and open the second door for them in the middle of the night!  (Nor will I have to put Gigi into her crate when I let Joey out.  When I have to do that in the middle of the night I end up WIDE awake.  NOT good!)

 

I'm hoping that we can get all those dogs back together at some point, but whether we do or not, once the older dogs are gone I'm thinking we will be able to work with a rescue group and foster dogs for them WITHOUT having to worry about whether Gigi is going to eat them!  I HOPE she isn't going to be like that, but you just never know.  This way, any foster dogs would be safe no matter what.

 

Well, time to get back to work again.  But I'll tell you what - after having been off most of the time for the last couple weeks I'm seriously anxious to retire!   Well - eventually. Sigh.