It started off with great expectation. And lots of hard work. The hardest labor being done by my BF, Raphael. Trust me, his halo is shining. It's been shining brightly these days. Shown below is the "before" picture. The smoke tree had been inappropriately planted (through no fault of mine; why did I hire a landscape "professional" in the first place?) right next to the house. Sure, it looked nice there at first. But then the winter snow falling off the roof squelched it. And then in the spring, when it defied rationality and resumed growoing, the snow-squelched branch basically blocked our path across the walkway.
So it had to be dug out. It may or may not make it. The only appropriate place to try was right in the middle of the patch of lawn between the driveway and the walkway. So he dug. And he dug. And we used a little trolley to move the shockingly heavy tree around.
Finally, we decided where it should go. Got it all aligned just so. Tamped the ground around it. Now we just hope it survives the shock. And if it doesn't, well, it couldn't stay where it was. Not only did he transplant that tree, he moved the mailbox, and repaired various little broken bits, and repainted it. Not a small day by any means.
So here's how the smoke tree looks now. Pretty damn impressive, don't you think? I do.
OK, just because I know there are about five people in the entire world who care, I'm also adding photos of the front and backyard, willy nilly.
Yes, the apple tree in the back side yard, in full bloom. Jackson wishes we would just cut it the f__k down so he wouldn't have to pick up rotten apples later this summer. Too bad. I have no idea where he picked up such language. But it warms my heart that he only uses it in private. As it should be.
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