Meanwhile, back on the farm: Further adventures in "landscaping"

South side of the backyard is still scary, but yesterday I spent another 2½ hours in what I euphemistically call "pruning" and "weeding", and others might compare to a small Mongol Horde spending the holidays outside Prague. We ... hmm, just who is this "we", anyway? "We" are myself, John, and My Aged Parental Unit (Female), Mary. "We" used to be somewhat larger, including one Aged Parental Unit (Male), James, deceased some 7+ years agone, and one Aged Decrepit Sibling Unit (Female), Beth, who while Still With Us, resides some umpteen bazillion millimeters to the North, in Olympia, and no longer needs deal with The Yard; the Aged Decrepit Sibling Unit (Female) is usually two years older than I, but for approximately 50 days each year she is Three years older than I, and trust me, as a Bright And Perky Younger Sibling Unit (Male), I insure that she feels every second of that throughout the year, not just during those 50ish days. *grin* Now where was I before I so rudely interrupted myself? There's this Rosemary shrub, see, what moved with us from Salem in 1976, and was already at least five years old at that time. A thirty-seven year old Rosemary which hasn't been harvested or pruned for most of its life can get pretty ... big ... and also look like its been living on the coast [think «Salishan Lodge» logo] what with all the twisty-turny branches, looking like well-weathered anchorline, ifn ya happen to be the «Golden Hind» that is, and bunches of these branches no longer having any, or not very much, life left to them. And then, like at the coast, imagine that blackberries had found there way into this here shrub, and grown up and around and over it, into the surrounding trees, etc. Then, picture me with A Pruning Saw, and The Will To Use It [yes, I do enjoy Regency Romances, why do you ask? What do you mean My Capitalization reflects that?]. This here shrub no longer has a fourish yard perimeter, and looks more like a topiary than a bush. And I've got some well-seasoned wood I need to stash under cover for future use, two to three inch diameter Rosemary ought ta be good for something nifty, even if it does curl around like a serpent. But before I can stash it away for future use, I'll need to unearth it. Ya see, it gave me a lovely place to pile blackberry, raspberry, and That Danged Vine clippings where they won't have contact with the ground whilst they dry so they won't root on me. A quantity which covered a five foot by 30 foot expanse now rises in a pile six feet tall by at least a four foot diameter, plus what was already tangled in the Rosemary prior to practicing Fourth Dan Extreme Pruning upon it. The south side of the yard has at least twice as much blackberry in it, and is considerably taller, more of a true bramble. Prior to taking it on I'm going to build a drying bin for it. I expect to spend much of the next year disposing of the clippings every two weeks at yard debris pick-up, unless Bill decides to haul it away sometime when he is down with the pick-up truck. The property to our East is looking much better, as I've taken to clearing out stuff which has crept over there from our property [we didn't prevent it from going there, we should help get rid of it, as well as her back isn't up to yard work anymore, just like mom.], doing this at the same time as I work on our yard, which allows me to start on a given problem plant from which ever yard gives the best initial access; as I told the lady, plants don't give no never-you-mind to which side of the fence they came from, well, not quite those words, but that's the gist. Coming up on time for lunch, so I'll be wandering off now, which means its time to Post this Puppy!