when last we left our intrepid bloggers...

we'd been slacking hardcore on the posting. and sadly, not because we were sooooo busy with house stuff.

but this weekend, JBB went to town on the lawn and landscaping.

We had had the old mostly-dead cherry tree in the front yard taken down last fall, as the poor thing was on its last legs and an unholy mess. This tree and the magnolia tree (that's still there--with flower buds no less!) had been surrounded by a giant oval-kidney shape of crappy bark mulch that the previous owners had summarily mounded into 2 foot high mulch-hills.

JBB shoveled off the crappy mulch that was left, and reshaped the oval-kidney into a much smaller, much more visually appealing and appropriate circle around the magnolia, and aerated and reseeded the bare spot.

now, we have clay soil. which would have been bad enough, but we have clay soil, lots of shade, and plants that have not been tended in oh, at least 10 years. So the lawn is crap. The rest of the plantings, with a few exceptions, are crap.

Ok, maybe not a few. Making the list, it looks like we have more that might be worth saving than I thought: crocuses, lilies, and a few other bulbs that may be daffodils (yay!) or tulips (yay! yay!) that are popping up now. We have some lilacs (yay!) that I hope to god aren't dead because I love lilacs, something that looks to be an aggressive wisteria vine (like there's any other kind of wisteria vine...), a wild and rambly large rosebush that needs a lot of cutting back, but is beautiful in bloom, and a hydrangea bush on the side lawn.

The problem is that there's a lot of crap spacing out of those nice bits, and no real good sunny spot for a veg garden, even a small one. poop.

I think this year is going to be the year we wait and see what's what and what comes up where.

meanwhile...

baby kitty photos!
meet henry:



and while Milo wasn't too thrilled about Henry at first, they've been getting along quite well so far. no hissing or real fighting, and a whole lot of cat-tag and chasing.