The house I live in used to belong to my grandmother. After she died my parents took over it.  Because grandma had not been able to get around very well in the last years of her life the once quaint juniper bushes that once provided a lovely green accent for the sandstone siding of the house had grown out of control.  She had been dead for three years when I moved in and by that time; due to the chaos that was in my world (and my parent’s for that matter) when we attempted to reel them in two years ago we needed to use a chansaw to be able to even make a dent in the thick bushes.  But no matter how much we hacked and slashed (and replaced chainsaw blades) these damn things were determined to consume the house like some kind of evergreen blob. 

     Last week my father told me that if I could score a tow chain we could use the truck to remove these beasts once and for all.  Yesterday after a relaxing Zappateers listening session with my friend Jimmy  our friend Bryan stopped by with his tow chain to begin the task of showing those damn Juniper bushes exactly who the boss was.  First we uprooted the tump of another problematic bush that I had cut down by hand a couple years ago and with that warm up complete we moved around to the front of the house.

     I should note at this time that because of the angle of the house in conjunction to the sun the trunks of these shrubs had curved and sloped outward away from the house in an attempt to gain access to the sun.  The result of this was a nice walkway between the shrubs and the house.  This made it easier for one: to get a proper trunk count (the damn things were so overgrown and close together, it looked like a giant bush trying to consume the house) and two: to get the tow chain around said trunks. 

     The first shrub was the toughest after several pulls with the truck and a couple of running starts the first shrub was uprooted.  This was after about a half hour of pulling and yanking with the truck in  four wheel drive.  Add to this Jimmy watching the ground around the shrub rise like the dirt around a grave right before the zombie’s hand breaks to the surface and giving me the blow by blow between tugs and Bryan just really enjoying watching what amounts to major surgery to have a growth removed from the earth and you can see how this is definitely small town entertainment on a Sunday night that’s definitely more productive than any NASCAR race.  Through all this the shrub put up one hell of a fight, it clung desperately to the earth refusing to give up, like a crazed cult leader in Waco holding on to his compound.  Finally the truck prevailed and the shrub broke loose.  I pulled the truck out of the yard and into the cul-de-sac and dragged the shrub behind the truck like I was dragging the body of the enemy commander behind my chariot before depositing it in the back yard to be cut up and thrown into the burn pit.

     The rest came out easily after that first one.  We managed to get all the junipers off the front of the house and now for the first time in almost a decade the sandstone siding is exposed for all to see.  It also means mowing the front lawn will be a lot easier and our landscape options have increased exponentially. 

    I have to say that even though it’s just the beginning of the things needed to be done outside.  I still feel a great sense of accomplishment and nothing beats  the fulfillment  felt after a good days hard work around the house once in a while.

     Good night and may your god go with you.