And Boy Are My Arms Tired...

My friend, Jessie, started a blog about gardening.  (You should totally go visit her.  She's really funny! And, Amber, that just leaves you in the non-blogger category, so get with it!)  And to her, and all of those like her, I say "Yay, You!"  Because I could take gardening or leave it, mostly leave it (or leaf it.  HA!).  I like being outside, as long as it's not too hot or too cold, there aren't too many bugs, the humidity is low and I'm not having to do any actual work.  But, some things just can't be ignored.  Such as:

And this was after Dad and I (mostly Dad) had worked on it for a while.  This ivy is evil.  You can't kill it (it's 40 years old), it smothers everything, and it will kill you sooner than it will come off the side of the house.  It's supposed to look like this:

See how it covers the base of the house and stays off the siding?  How's it's not growing into the gutter or inside a window and into my house?  (True story.) 

We carted off more of these piles than I care to admit, but it looks so much better.  I'm so thankful that my daddy was willing to come over and help (or do most of it, whatever!).  I promptly came in, took a shower and took a nap.  Let's just say that my next blog will not be about gardening.