BRUSH AND TREE CLEARING

A big project we've been needing to get done is happening TOMORROW.  We'll be clearing the driveway and some other spots!

I cleared, SLOWLY, this area from where we come into our part of the driveway over several years. The trees were very small at the time and easy to cut down and/or in some cases, mow over.  I was able to widen it considerably as you can see by the arrow.  The drive was originally that wide all the way down...back then.  

Once you get past that wider area, it is a long and windy road from there on, ha.  A curvy driveway would be OK someday but for now...

...it is narrowing because the mesquite trees are encroaching.  I've pruned back and that works for a few months but there are some points where it gets so narrow, the limbs touch the sides of the car.  Keep in mind, these are mesquite trees which are covered in thorns.  Not good for paint on cars, ha.

However, with work going to be done on the house this year, whatever we go with, we'll need room for vehicles and trucks to go back and forth and come and go without worry.

So they will be clearing a row or two of mesquite trees all the way down to where we park.  They are cutting them flat to the ground and then drilling out the stumps.  Also, the gangly mesquite on the corner of the driveway is being removed as well.  It's limbs collapsed in last year's freeze and it's just a mess.

Even though I'll be there with them all day, I bought some marking paint so they can do what they need in case I am otherwise occupied.

I sprayed an X on the trees and brush that are going.  

In the areas where I couldn't really get to the trees or brush, I just painted an arrow on the grass, ha.

And here is the other thing we are having done that I'm so excited about:

They are clearing all of the area around the garden, all three sides.  By the way, this picture is from a month or two ago when things hadn't bloomed out for Spring.  We wanted to get the work done then because it might have been easier but alas, it was too wet and every time we scheduled it, it would rain more.

The brush has been creeping in and I can't get the mower around the fence to keep it clear and now I can't get it to the backside of the garden and it's growing out of control.  We want to fix up the garden this year, but it's too hard to get to the sides to replace the fence and the brush and branches are starting to become a problem inside the garden.  The big clump of trees also puts too much shade into the front side of the garden.

The crew is coming with a team, some heavy equipment and a bunch of chainsaws.  The goal tomorrow is the driveway and the garden area.  The guy seemed to think they could get all that done by early afternoon and then work on anything else we needed done around the yard.  In his words, "you are paying me for 8am-6pm so you just point at it and we'll clear it".

Our mind races at the potential! LOL!

So that will be the day tomorrow.  I'll probably leave this post up tomorrow and try to add to it by way of an update during the day.  If I can't, certainly there will be big post of BEFORE and AFTER photos, ha.