I think hell just froze over

When we moved in, our side yard was crazy overgrown, and other than keeping our side trimmed at the fence, there wasn't really anything we could do about it. Our neighbors, whose overgrown bushes were encroaching into our yard, always somewhat sheepishly said that they were trying their best to get everything fixed up, but it would take time. We bought the house with the yard looking the way it did in the picture above, so we knew it may never get any better, but had hope. Over the 6-9 months, the neighbors have started making improvements to their house, replacing windows, exterior doors, redoing their breezeway, kitchen and bathroom (so we have been told), and most recently, started to tackle the back yard. We don't talk to the neighbors that often, as their back yard got even worse this year - to the point we couldn't even really see into their yard!

A couple of weeks ago, Joe and I woke up to the sound of chainsaws humming. When we looked outside, we noticed these neighbors had a tree trimming service working in their front yard, taking a tree out. We crossed our fingers that they'd get to the back yard, and a few hours later, I discovered the workers starting to cut down a tree that was growing over the fence and brushing our roof, directly over the power lines to our house! I was so excited I was almost stunned, and sat watching as a few workers continued to take their heavy duty chainsaws to the bushes along the fence line. Although I would have really enjoyed watching this continue, I had to go to work. That night, we returned home to find that a good portion of the bushes along the fence had been cut way back, and a few trees that hung over our property were gone. While we were excited about the developments, we quickly came to the realization that now we could look into their yard, and the sight wasn't any better than the green, leafy 8' privacy fence we'd actually come to enjoy somewhat.

That was then. This morning, as Joe and I got up to go swimming before work, the tree trimmers pulled in the neighbors' driveway. Knowing that there wasn't anything left in the front yard to tackle, we could only assume that they were back to (hopefully!) finish the back yard. You saw the before picture above.... here's how their yard (and our view) changed and looks today....


We have never been able to see their entire fence, and it's amazing how large their yard really is, compared to what we've been used to seeing. Here's hoping that they continue to work on it, and maintain it so it doesn't get all overgrown in the coming years!