Over the Forest and Through the Woods...

Dad and I started the day with a goal of getting two more fence posts dug up from the (un-needed) small fence today.  And then clearing out the brush from the west side of my fence at the edge of the property.

And, oh, what a productive day we had!!!

We started around 9:00 A.M. and started with the fence posts first.  You have to take advantage of the cool air while you can!  Well, this project went very poorly.  We were unable to dig with a spade because of the MASSIVE amounts of large rock buried beneath the dirt.  We tried a chisel, but even then, we realized we were getting nowhere fast.  For some reason or another, that part of my backyard is just nothing but large white rock.  We worked and wondered what used to be here.  Rock quarry?!

The two posts we wanted to tackle today.  We ended up giving up and chopping them off below ground!  Nothing but rock when we dug!!!

So the decision was (wisely) made to just dig below the dirt as far as we could and cut the posts with a chainsaw.  We figured the dirt ALREADY held secrets of stone that we had no idea about, so what were two more concrete footings going to add?  We chopped them off and covered them back up.

But we went further.  We decided to go after a THIRD post since we only had a goal of two anyway today (and we already had those done!).  The third post was surrounded by mostly soft black dirt, so we did this one the right way.  We dug down the 2 1/2 feet, broke off all the concrete, and lifted it up.  Even then with just one post, this was work!  Nothing more difficult than moving dirt.  But we had progress!!!

The third post came out "cleanly."  Notice I did not say "easily."  But we had good soil, so we dug the 2 1/2 feet down!

And so now it was on to the forest.  And I do mean forest.  It's hard to be definitive with time on this one, but I have to estimate that the previous owner had let this part of his property go for around 10 years.  For as Dad and I already learned last week, the firewood had already started to decompose.  The wooden pallets that the firewood set on were reduced to soft dust that fell apart when you went to lift it up.  And, oh, the sprawling weeds and trees and bushes!!!  They had just taken off.

The brush as we started today.  Notice the "wall" of brush straight ahead.  It was so thick!

I mean, this stuff was THICK.

Where do you even begin?!  This stuck was THICK.

The good news is that we had already progressed a good amount yesterday.  But the bad news is that we quickly learned that the back portion was quite a bit thicker than the front portion.  The bushes were larger, the small saplings were more dense, and the trees were 20 foot tall!  But we progressed.  Inch by inch, foot by foot, weed by weed, we progressed.

What was mind-boggling to me was the amount of trash that was hidden in the weeds.  We had TONS of Styrofoam cups, gobs of ripped plastic, a hubcap with a tree growing through it (that was tricky to remove!), aluminum cans, a tarp, a tin can, oodles and oodles of plastic packaging (think Beef Jerky as an example), a chair cover, and more.  It was gross!  The mall is just south of here, so I am sure a lot of trash gets blown around, but it hit this forest filter and just stopped.  I hope this isn't a sign of years to come!!!  I don't want your trash!

Styrofoam was the name of the game.

Junk, junk, junk.

Metal, plastic, foam, we had it all.

And a hubcap!  Notice the tree that grew through the hole on the left, then grew BIGGER than the hole.  I had to dig underneath the hubcap and chainsaw the tree from below!

But we worked.  Cut, load, haul.  We had to be careful of one particularly thorny plant (the most thorns I have ever seen on a plant) and low-lying branches.  I scraped by neck so hard on a low branch that I had to bend over and just wait for the pain to subside (several hours later Mom showed up and the first thing she asked is, "What did you do to your neck"?).  It hurt!

I've seen thorns in my time, but wow!!!  And this isn't the worst of it!

Ok, ok, so I get it...you don't want to be touched.

But the more we cut, the more progress we saw, and it just became motivating.  I remember the first time I saw daylight on the other side.  I just cut my way back to that daylight!  Then I went left and right clearing up more.  Dad would load the trees into the truck as I cut, and we just worked.  Work, work, work!  I knew this foreclosure was going to be work, but wow!!!  This was old-fashioned, sweat-inducing work!  We ended up hauling out three more full truck loads of brush, trash, and pine needles today.  All in all, we took out FIVE truckloads of brush.  Ridiculous!!!

The first load of trees and brush going out today.

This load was nothing but pine needles and small brush from the ground!!!

The last load!  Woo hoo!!!

But the satisfaction is totally worth it.  And not only do I appreciate the new look, but we can tell the neighbors do, too.  I can't tell you the number of cars that stop to look at the new path.  I guess neighbors used to use this corridor to walk to the mall in years past, but it's obvious they haven't been able to do that in a decade!!!  But every once in awhile, I will look up or walk out front, and a car is just stopped in front of the house taking a look!  I love it.

Mom showed up around 4:00 P.M. from a quick trip to Chicago with some sweet tea, and it's hard to put into words just how timely that refreshment was!!!  She took to fixing a few of the missed paint spots from yesterday in the garage, and she was itching to finish the deck, too!  My body was telling me otherwise, but you NEVER say no when someone offers to help!

So I sent my very sore dad home to dump the last load of brush, and Mom and I resumed staining the deck around 5:15 P.M.  We worked until we had to call it quits at sunset a couple of hours later.  But we are 80% done!!!  I think I can finish it up in about another 45 minutes.  I didn't like the color at first, but it is growing on me little by little.

Oh, what a day.  But I can check off another project, and I am so close to two more!  The fence is almost 100% complete, the brush IS 100% complete, and the deck is almost 100% complete!  A great day!!!

And nothing is complete without the satisfying Before and After pictures.  So here is how the yard looked last week...and then after today.  Great job, Pa!!!

Before...

And After!!!

Before...

And After!!!