Bushes, bushes, bushes!!

Last week we made a trip to Reims to work in the yard.  We were really afraid that the bushes had taken over the yard.  In a sense, they had.  But they weren't as bad as what we expected.   It's true, that the bushes in the neighbor's yard had grown so tall that our yard wasn't getting any more sun.  We brought our tools with us.  We brought a three step ladder.  But it wasn't tall enough.  The neighbors that live in front of us brought over a taller ladder but that one wasn't even tall enough to get good leverage.  Finally the neighbor brought over his tallest ladder and finally we were able to start working.  Mike used branch cutters and cut down the tallest ones.  Unfortunately I didn't get a before picture.  Some of those branches were actually trees, over 5-6 feet tall.  Once he got those cut we cut them up into smaller pieces and put them into plastic sacks that we brought from home.  Mike later took about 7 of those sacks to the dump.

Notice the 3 different ladders.

Before the trim but after cutting the 6 foot "trees"

 Then I started working.   I used the hedge trimmer and started cutting the bushes. We had to stop for lunch and also a visit from another real estate agency.  But we finally finished the front around 7:00.  Our neighbors invited us over for a cold drink and to see the pictures of their grandson. 

After

That night we stayed in a hotel a few kilometers from the house.  We knew we'd be tired after working so hard.  From our hotel window we saw a beautiful sunset.  The next day we came home.  Once when we were stopped at a rest area the Patrouille de France (like the Blue Angels in the States) went over.  It was quite impressive.  Unfortunately I didn't have my camera handy.

As if we hadn't had enough bushes Tuesday we decided to cut back our bushes here at home.  There is a path that runs behind the house and the bushes were so overgrown that with school starting I thought the kids and parents would get soaked if they walked through there after a rain.

Mike measured the hedge.  It is 24 meters long (78 ft).  And we have to cut two sides and the top.  And that is just the back.  It took us two days to do it.  Part of that was my fault when I cut the cord, not once but TWICE.  Oh dear!! 

oops!!

The second time the circuit breaker in the house went off.  That was fine but we burned up the motor in the air evacuation system in the house.  Now our hot water heater/ furnace doesn't work.  Oops.  I think next year we'll just pay to have someone come and do it.  It will be cheaper in the long run!!

Partially done

After (from the other end of the path)

Before

After

The side of the house

We finished what we had started and were very stiff and sore afterwards.  We still have the corner by the shed to do.  But there isn't any rush on that. 

14 sacks worth of "green".  The sacks are given to us by the city.  They are emptied by the trash truck every Thursday morning.

And if that isn't enough, we are going back to Reims this next week for another agency visit and to cut the bushes in the back of the house.