Tom and I worked out in the yard all day. We cleared away around fifty shrubs of various kinds, and dozens of volunteer trees. The flowerbeds look a bit barren now, but at least they are free from the overwhelming shrubbery. We tore out the shrubs along one side of the driveway, and will do the other side shortly. We ended up just cutting off the tops, and we will dig out the stumps gradually. Tom was quiet the tree “fell-er.” I was so impressed by his determination and great work ethic.
Yesterday was my first exposure to gardening in the city. I forgot that when you live in the city you can’t just pile up your tree branches and cut shrubs into a huge pile, let them dry, and then burn them in a huge bonfire, like we do at home. Rather, you have to cut them into 4 foot pieces and place in bundles. The smaller stuff you must bag. Cleaning up after my gardening escapades has always been my least favorite task. In the past it has naturally fallen to my younger siblings, who could pick up the weeds off the grass, but struggled to know how to select the weeds from the plants in the flowerbeds. So typically I didn’t have to worry about it. Devin, was usually happy to show off his huge muscles and haul away the huge branches from my pruning jobs, and Dad always took care of the drying and burning. Now it’s just Tom and me. (I guess that’s one good reason to start having kids right away- we need another helper!)
Regardless, it’s great that the city will take all of our “clippings,” because yesterday they were abundant. We lined the entire tree lawn on the side of our house with 8 dwarf spruce, 6 shams, and countless bundles of lilac branches, forsythia branches, elm volunteers, and believe it or not rose of Sharon volunteers. (We have rose of Sharon growing all over our yard- Ohio is amazing!)
Three of our neighbors came over to say hello and introduce themselves. Carlyn lives kitty-corner to us. She has been living in the neighborhood for some 30 years, and is a real social activist, according to another neighbor. She set up the neighborhood Lomond association. Her daughter was a vocalist and all of her kids played various musical instruments. She was telling me that back in the day the neighborhood had a great band, and they would all meet at her house to rehearse. Apparently they had recently got back together to play for her youngest son’s wedding.
She invited me to any plant starts from her yard I might be interested in. She told me that the house had been kept by a widower. She had lived there forever, and kept the house and yard immaculate. “She kept that house and yard to perfection,” she said. Apparently the previous owner moved two years ago and the house was sold, and then sold again. But in those two years no one every occupied it.
Colette and Dennis live two doors down on Lomond. They have two children, but we only met Isabella who is two. Colette works in the business department at CSU and Dennis works for Sherwin Williams at their downtown headquarters. He was born in Italy and speaks fluently to Tom’s delight. They told us all about the neighborhood as well, and informed us of various Shaker Heights programs we should take advantage of. They praised our shrub removal and said they had done the same thing. They affirmed Carlyn’s statements that several houses on the block were being renovated to be sold, and that one just three houses down had been renovated and sold in a week for what she thought was more than 200k! Apparently they had put in an all granite kitchen, slate floors and the like. I would be very interested to see the place, as Tom and I are still trying to get a feel for what level of upgrades we should be shooting for. Colette and Dennis said they were planning a block party soon, and would love to have us over, as well as invited us to use their facilities or come over for water anytime- while we are without plumbing and water.
Jeff lives a couple of blocks down, but on Reidham like us. (The advantages of a corner lot- you can claim two streets!). He is a general contractor, and offered his card. He too said that he was happy to see someone working on the yard. He said he had hated driving by it and seeing it going to shambles as the previous woman had kept the yard so immaculate. He invited us to the Reidham block party that he and his wife would be putting on shortly. He praised the neighborhood, and spoke highly of our choice of purchase.
The day was full and wonderful. I was happy to hear my observations had been correct- that the house had been owned by a widowed elderly woman, and that the foreclosure had not been such that someone was forced out. It was great to hear that the house had been kept immaculate, we had figured as much based on how clean it was despite how old it was. I’m curious to know if she was the sole owner. Apparently she was in her ninety’s when she moved, so it very likely could have been her home since it was built in 1945. We’re excited to meet our other neighbors, and to get involved with the community. Next week I am going to finish off the yard- I have one more evergreen to cut down, and some more weeds to pull in the back. (I’m going to wait until we are living in the house to plant anything). Next on my list is fixing the point of sale violations- there are several doors handles and locks that need to be fixed, and several outside doors to be scraped down and repainted. Should be fun!