We have been doing a lot of stuff to make this place "Our House." Aside from maybe moving in, the landscaping of the front and back yards is undoubtedly the biggest we have undertaken. So, we decided to create a page just to help keep track of the progress, and to show us what we've accomplished. If you've been following along on our site, you know that we have a lot of things planned for this place. Well, after looking at this page, we hope that you can see that we are actually following through on some of them! Going to try to show this with before and after pictures. So read on, and take a look at how things are coming along.

Saturday, Bob spent a bunch of time in the backyard, again.  This time he was pulling up a bunch of the old black plastic that was under the gravel.  It was just getting so old that parts of it were sticking up all over the place.  So he spent a bunch of time pulling the stuff out.  Know you can't see it too well, but you can see some of the progress in the picture below.  He also laid some bricks in front of the grill.  You can check them out on Our House page.

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Here is a new picture to show how things have come along in the back yard.  Notice the lack of palm trees.

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Wednesday we had some people come by and start to remove the nine palm trees that are in our back yard. We decided to do this as palm trees aren't real high on our list of nice trees. It would have cost around $300 just to have them trimed up, and this would have been an annual cost. So we decided that it was time for them to go.

In this first picture you can barely see they guy in the top of the tree. He is just getting started, and is in the process of cutting off the frawns.



This next picture shows the results of how he was cutting down the trees. While he is up in the tree, he cuts them into four to five foot pieces, and lowers them down by a rope. Makes quite a mess, too.



This picture shows the tree by the pool filter cut down. They did a very good job of not letting the pieces come down on top of anything important, like the filter.



Once they got the trees down, the attacked the stumps with a pick axe to get them out. Are we ever glad that we paid someone else to do that!



Here you can see the before and after taken from the corner of the patio looking towards the northwest (back) corner of the back yard.



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Sunday we managed to get a U-Haul trailer. We got all the stuff loaded in it took it to the dump. Man! Are we ever glad to have that done. Here are some more pictures just for the fun of it and to show off our accomplishment.

Here is all the stuff loaded up and ready to go. We did a pretty good job getting all that stuff onto the trailer.




Here is the front yard in front of the boat with all the stuff from Saturday, gone and cleaned up.




Here is the side yard where the Raiders and/or the boat will be parked. This is the first time this has been empty since we moved in! Sure is nice to see.




Here is a picture that you really see the stuff we've changed since we moved in. The top half was taken before we actually bought the house, and the bottom was taken on Sunday afternoon.




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Saturday we attacked the front yard. Here are some pictures to show what we accomplished.

This picture was taken standing almost in the middle of our front yard looking toward the house



1. This plant is gone. It was a bougainvillea and had to go.
2. This plant is also gone. It too, was a bougainvillea.
3. This is another plant that is gone. We think it may have been a dried up cat's claw.:
4. Old wood. The previous owners must have thought that this was a good accent, but to us it clutters up the place, and attracts termites. Had to go.
5. Plants in the pots were removed to make room for new stuff.
6. Another old piece of wood.
7. Flying our flag.

This picture was taken from the same place, but looking toward the Southwest corner of the house



1. Barrel cactus, outta there!
2. Pipe organ cactus, outta there, too!!
3. Another shot of the old wood that is now gone.
4. Don't know what this was, but it is now gone. It likes to spread, and we hope we've stopped that.
5. Trimmed the pine trees.
6. More of that unknown stuff that is now gone.
7. BIG Texas sage bush. Plan was to trim it up, but as we did, we found out that it was hit with termites pretty bad, so it is on the way out.
8. Stump of the Texas sage.
9. The only bougainvillea that is going to stay. Will be trimmed during next stage.
10. All the gravel got raked. Looks much better.

This picture was taken just off our property looking back at the same corner of the house.



1. Another Texas sage. Trimmed it way back. It didn't appear to have termites, so it is going to stay. You can get a better look at it now by clicking Here.
2. Another shot of the big bush that had to come out.
3. Another view of the pine tree trimming, too.
4. The stump that is yet to go.

This picture was taken from across the street



1. Plain ole weeds that are now gone.
2. Barrel cactus, gone.
3. Pipe organ cactus, gone.
4. Wood accents, gone.
5. Pine trees, trimmed.
6. Bougainvillea, gone.
7. Another bougainvillea, gone.

Much to our surprise, the huge Texas sage that has to go, has the biggest stump so far. All the other stuff we've done with no power tools (as hard as that is to believe!). But for this one we're gonna have to resort to a chain saw. Plan is to rent one and cut this a low as possible. We'll also use it one some of the stuff that is left in the back yard.



Here is another pile of stuff that we created that has to go to the dump. We were thinking that we'd be able to get it all in one trip, but we're beginning to have our doubts.



Plan to do more stuff soon, so tune in again.

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This first picture was taken standing near the back fence looking toward the back patio.



1. Trimmed back the pine trees. Still sticking to keeping them. Lots of people have said how much of a pain they are, especially around a pool, but Bob is just nuts over them, so as of now they stay
2. Our new pool vac. Spent a couple bucks on it, but it sure seems to be doing the trick. It is out of the water because in the process of working in the back yard, Bob and the dogs managed to kick a few rocks in the pool. It doesn't do well at picking up rocks. They tend to get caught in the gears.


The picture was taken from the far southwest corner of the back yard.



1. This is the first picture that shows one of the biggest changes. The wooden barrels with stuff growing in them had to go. We both liked the look, very "southwesterny." But, as we were sitting on the patio one evening, noticed that they had termites in them. Bad thing! So they had to go.
2. You can barely tell, but the bush here is gone. Soon to have a Bird of Paradise or maybe a Honeysuckle in it's place.
3. The Begonia is gone! Too many prickers, and the little purple flowers go all over the place, especially in the pool. We're still going to have on in the front. You'll see it soon here on this page.
4. This is the new brick work you probably saw earlier.
5. The new fence. Sure is working out well.
6. New pool net. Been getting a lot of use out of it lately.


This one was taken just behind the cool deck circle, right in front of the new fence, looking east.



1. A better look with all the termite infested stuff gone. Really gives the place a much more wide open look.
2. We pulled out the Malibu lights. The are going to go back in, but for now they are just in the way. At this point we're not real sure where they'll end up, but pretty certain that it'll be around the pool.
3. Trimmed the palm trees. They are on their way out, but for now had to trim them up so that we could walk by them with out getting a palm fron in the face.
4. The cats claw is off the fence, once more. We cut this back before Nikki's birthday. That stuff grew back so fast! It is some mean stuff. Bob spent a couple evenings trying to get it all out of the ground. We're sure it'll be back, but at least then it should be manageable.
5. Gonna try to keep the wagon wheel. It is leaning against the fence for now, as we're not too sure where it'll end up, either.
6. The new pool filter. It is doing a real good job. Big thing though. Plan to build some type of fence or something to hide it a bit.
7. Chlorine dispenser. Didn't have one, and we needed one. Bob wanted to get one in the shape of a boat, but we couldn't find one. Didn't want to go for the duck or frog, so we went simple.
8. Thermometer. Didn't have any where else to hang it, so we cut about three inches of fanoodle and tied the thermometer to it. So, it spends it's time floating around the pool, testing the temperature in various places, at various times.
9. Max's donation. He tends to put a toy or two in the pool every other day, or so.


This one was taken from the corner of the patio looking towards the northwest (back) corner of the back yard.


1. Another view of the pine tree trimming. Also really helps open the place up a bit.
2. The Ocotillo was taken out early. Didn't want the puppies getting stuck.
3. More evidence of the pine tree trimming.
4. The new fence, again.


This is where most of the stuff we have taken out has ended up. The plan is within the next couple weeks, to rent a U-Haul trailer, like we used to move, and haul all this stuff to the dump. Gotta wait until we've chopped a bunch of stuff down in the front yard though.



1. This must have had a plant of some sort in it at one time, but it is gone now.
2. More of the cats claw. We hate the stuff. What a pain!
3. Stuff just hanging out waiting to be taken to the dump. Lots of stuff....
4. Toby's Raider holder.
5. Dirt. It came from the barrels that we took out.
6. Brick. It came from all over. Saving it for now, just in case our future plans require them.
7. River rock. It too, came from all over, and it too is sticking around until we decide if we can use it in the new grand scheme.