Our yard has been looking worse and worse ever since we took our tree down last spring. We tried to fix it up a little but all our efforts (and money we spent on topsoil, grass seed, manure, etc.) seemed fruitless. Since the yard wasn't going to start looking better on its own, I decided to get an estimate from a landscape company. A friend of mine had a beautiful Marian grotto built in her back yard by a friend of hers from growing up, so I sent him an email and asked him to stop by and give me an estimate.
He came last Saturday, when I was at the grocery store, and gave Paul the estimate. The estimate seemed reasonable to me and Paul said the guy was really nice, so I sent him an email telling him that he could start the job whenever was convenient for him. He responded "Thanks Holly, I'll be in touch..."
SO, a week goes by and I didn't hear anything from him. I wondered if he was too busy doing bigger landscaping jobs and figured I better give him a call on Monday. Well, it turns out that I didn't need to. Imagine my surprise, when I arrived home this morning after the boys Kindermusik class, to find my entire yard torn up, all kind of equipment, and a crew of 6 guys all working on my townhouse sized yard.
It was VERY exciting for the boys; they love watching any kind of work being done with any kind of tools. And they love talking to the workers too. Most of the crew were Spanish speaking (the boys were arguing over what language it was - Thomas said it was Spanish but Dominic thought it was French) so they didn't talk to them a lot, but they really liked talking to the owner of the company, Brendan. And Brendan was a really nice guy - he told them about how important it is to pray the rosary daily, and how we need to put our lives in the hands of Jesus and Mother Mary and they will take care of us.
All they did in the front was simple - they removed the grass and shrubs that were already there (and in very bad condition) and put down new sod, some new shrubs, and built a little wall in front of the new shrubs. In the back they also removed the old grass and shrubs and put down new sod, some rose bushes on one side, and a blueberry bush, a raspberry bush, and a sand box on the other side.
Here are some pictures of the back:
