Totally Called It

We have different children. I don't mean different as in strange (although that might be appropriate as well), but vastly different from each other. Anything I may have learned with Bruder, didn't apply to Lucy. The stuff I'd learned with Lucy didn't work at all with Rose, etc. etc. So the other day Lyle and I started a project. It was a big project and done spur-of-the-moment as is typically done around here. We decided we didn't like the triangle of grass in front of our house and so as soon as the kids left for school we grabbed shovels and started digging. The kids had no idea we were doing this and when it was almost time for them to come home from school Lyle and I guessed how each of our children would respond to the big change in the front yard. We agreed that Bruder wouldn't notice--possibly ever. Lucy would think it was very exciting, and Rose would be furious that we dared change anything. Cholita was home and helping us dig, so she was our partner in crime.




Bruder came home first. We still had shovels in hand and he walked right up to us and started talking about something he wanted to build in the garage. Didn't notice at all.


Next came Lucy and Rose. Lucy said, "COOL! What's your plan?" We were excitedly sharing out landscape vision when we were interrupted by wailing from inside the house. Rose burst out the front door and screamed, "Stop destroying nature! Put that grass back NOW!" Bruder sauntered by from the garage and asked what Abby was screaming about. He didn't wait for an answer and went inside.


We bribed Rose with a popsicle to get her to calm down but still couldn't coax a smile. The dog was a week-long house guest. As we were working on projects out front and out back we had doors open on both ends of the house. I was inside the kitchen when our two dogs ran by followed by the beagle, followed by Old Fatty. A few minutes later the foursome ran back through the other way. I felt like I was living in a zoo.

By evening time we'd put in topsoil and planted a Japanese Maple. Bruder came out on the porch and his jaw fell open. "Hey, didn't we used to have grass there?"

The next day as we laid out a few sparse plantings Lyle and I both realized that this bed was a bigger project than we'd envisioned. This weekend we're going to dig out the tree, haul in more dirt, build a mounded berm, replant the tree, and place some large rocks on either side. It will be gorgeous someday, I promise.

Out back we've got more dirt-moving going on. We scraped away the sand from the volleyball court and spread topsoil and grass seed. One the the primary reasons for getting rid of the volleyball court was the perpetual sandy footprints through the house. What a relief to be rid of that sand, I gleefully thought. Until I saw this....

There's always something.

We're also working on a courtyard and wildflower garden. Stay tuned for "after" pictures!