Project Time Again

Fact: this time of year, EVERY year, I hate my yard. It doesn't really matter which yard we're talking about; they all have patchy grass coming up in tufts like hair after chemo; there's always dog doo everywhere, or, if I've been keeping up with the yard-cleanup duties , there are mysterious brown chunks that look like dog doo but end up being something else; there are always bits and pieces of broken and abandoned toys; there are always little flowers that look like trash. The most vigorous plants in mid-April are always the weeds. I always find the yard exhausting and discouraging.

Not fully capturing the suckitude of the yard.

However, this year we have a plan. By the end of the summer we're going to have a little deck action; we're going to have some raised vegetable beds; and we're going to have some flower beds. What isn't in beds is going to be in some other kind of generally pleasant-to-look-at shape, instead of piles-of-dirt-and-branches shape.

The plan. Also possibly a diagram for an uncomfortable method of birth control.

The deck will be for eating and also for covering up the great grassless region.

See those railroad ties? This is the year I make myself do Freecycle. (Anyone want some railroad ties?)

Raised beds-in-training. They can't really pretty up the back of the house, but my focus here is utility.

The bright side: the yard really can only get better.
The other bright side: I do like doing this kind of work. Even if thinking about it makes me want to crack open a beer and sit down in despair.