My Backyard

Recently, ZootSuitMama asked her readers to share their backyards.  ZSM has a fun little travel trailer with it's own patio in her backyard.  Unfortunately, my backyard looks a little plain in comparison.  But, plain or not (especially at this time of year), here it is!

Looking out my back door, you can see my shed (I love the green paint that I picked out for it), the tree line that I have extensively cleaned up since moving into the house over 4 years ago, and the church and parking lot behind me.  Looks fairly normal and boring, don't you think?

Now we're looking at the house from the parking lot of the church, still nothing spectacular.  (Can you see my dogs Rosco and Chewy in the photo?  They were enjoying the unusually warm 67 degree temperature - they're calling for storms tonight!)  For some reason unknown to me, whoever installed the fence didn't take it clear back to the back property line.  They just started it at the edge of the house on each side and went part way back.  My guess would be that cost was a factor in this unusual set up.  However, I really like it because I can have yard space that is fenced in for the dogs and still have yard space on the sides and in the back that is dog free and can be adult space.

Rosco really wanted to say hi to all the followers!  (He was named after Rosco P. Coltrane from the Dukes of Hazzard)

Looking down the side of the house... I really need to get outside and cut down the butterfly bush and the hibiscus before they start greening up.

As a reminder that spring is coming, my red flowering quince is starting to bud out.

See?  Little leaves and flower buds!

The honeysuckle looks like it has survived another winter.  This one is white / yellow, my other one is pink.  I have planted them on this fence because it is really ugly.  A tree that used to be in the backyard dropped a few branches on the fence and bent it all up.  Replacing the fence wasn't an option, so I'm hiding it with flowering vines.

I love this picture.  When I finally got the fence row / tree row cleaned out after moving in (that was my first project to tackle - it was over run with wild blackberries, which I am still fighting almost 5 years later) I discovered that at some point, one of the renters had planted some flower bulbs back there.  Here are some daffodils that are coming out of their winter nap, but I also have several irises back there as well as three rose of sharon bushes.

My firepit is anxiously awaiting the day that I start using it again, sitting by the fire on a cool, crisp spring evening, and then, sitting in the chairs under the shade trees in the summer with a cool drink in one hand and a good book in the other.

My burn barrel is waiting for the limbs that will come down in the spring storms, as well as the two piles of pruning that I did last fall that never was burnt.

This isn't the backyard, it's the front, but I still wanted to share my antique park bench.  There used to be a bunch of these in the city park, but over the years they have been replaced.  The county had a surplus goods auction not too long after I moved into the Shack, and while the price I paid for it was a little steep for me at the time, I had to have it (I have a real passion for historical items from my town).  I paid $65 for the old girl with her cast iron frome.  She needs a good coat of paint this summer, but in the summer afternoons when there is no shade around the firepit, you will find me sitting on the bench with my cool drink and book.

I don't have a travel trailer of my own, but I do have access to and use my parent's travel trailer a time or two during the summer.  I usually take it to the lake for the opening weekend of camping in April.  It's too cool to do anything in the water (which is fine with me, because swimming is not high on my list of fun summer activities) so I take a stack of books with me.  I don't get cell phone reception at the lake, and it's an amazing weekend of being disconnected from the rest of the world.  Here you see the trailer hibernating in it's garage for the winter.

The trailer is 26 foot long, but it has this amazing slide in the rear, which contains a queen sized bed.  When the slide is pulled out, the trailer is somewhere in the area of 30 foot long.