An Outdoor Escape

Posting pictures of the yard has been on my mind for the past two months (that's when I took these pictures), but apparently I haven't found the driving force necessary to do so. Here enters the need to escape from personal issues and to procrastinate from writing a fascinating paper on potatoes and globalization. Those quite motivating factors, coupled with the fact that we should document the "beginning" before showing the progress we've made, have led me to finally disclose our share of the great outdoors. Mind you, we like to say it "has potential," so don't get your hopes up too high. Definitely no fountains or great landscaping or well manicured green lawns. Just a lot of dirt, some plants, and dog poo (that I'll gladly tell you now is long gone!).

So imagine you are just driving walking (don't need to promote unnecessary use of fossil fuels in imaginary situations) down the road to come to our humble abode... Walking, walking, walking and bam! There it is on the left. Once upon a time you would have been greeted by ultra lush asian jasmine ground covering. Sadly, though, that is now a bare cover with mostly dead roots. Hurts the eyes a bit, but we are giving it lots of TLC to get it back on the mend.

 

You then turn up that lovely little sidewalk and are looking at us straight on. To the left is the lonely, never-used front door and to the walkway on the right is the driveway, back door, and backyard. So let's just take a right for pictures' sake. In real life though, our front door and it's "M" wreath would absolutely love a visit.

Before moving you take take a quick peek over to the right while you are deciding which way to go... Some semi-green grass, pretty crepe myrtles, and lots of low, dying jasmine yet again. Poor guys.

So you've made your way to that little entrance that you see above, and are greeted with a wide open breezeway filled with stuff. Some "stuff" is useful, such as the tools and recycling bin and firewood. And then some is temporary and will hopefully have moved on by your next visit. The back door is to the left and will enter the kitchen/dining area, but you decide to be brave and face the wilderness that is beyond.

And this is what you are greeted with! Not too shabby, eh? We have hopes that the vast expanse of dirt (oh, life with dogs) will either A. be lush, green grass one day or B. become a lovely natural landscape that prevents erosion and works with the Texas droughts. It's just cash and indecisiveness that are holding that space back.

You then take a stroll down the pretty patio, forgiving the fact that it is due some attention, and turn around to gaze at the lovely orange Tennessee umbrella and grill cover. "Lovely", Peyton we said! You also spot one loner dead bush by the garage. Curious...

By taking a turn you now see the back corner and the pathetic, dying orange tree. Don't you worry though! We have finally taken pity on that dejected soul and hopefully done some good for it. More to come on that soon.

If you decided to venture off of the patio to the left you would end up right here, in the far left corner of the yard. This space is the sunniest spot and just begs to become a vegetable garden in the future. Those wishes are definitely swaying our vegan hearts pretty quickly.

And this... well, this is just an example of the ground we have to deal with. Hard pounded, dry dirt and rocks. That's part of the reason why any change to the landscape is going to take quite some hard work through gritted teeth.

So there you have it! The place that oozes potential but needs lots of TLC. We are hoping to continue on as far as money will allow so that we can enjoy it as much, if not more, than the dogs have been. And with this starting point, I now have no reason not to post some of our progress. Long live procrastination!

LIVE THE MURRAYED LIFE

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