Taming the Jungle

The very first order of business was to get the outside ready for Reno. 

I’m going to back it up a little further, though. Let’s start with the dementia days- the ones where I had to start maintaining what was there, to keep my grandma happy. 

Let’s start with the jungle!

Bless, my grandma loved her flowers and she could grow anything. The last few years, her mind just wouldn’t let her keep them properly manicured. 

When you start pruning and removing jungle plants, you start praying you don’t run across a few nope ropes. 

Then, you have a rose tangled with a shrub and that’s it’s own beast

I guess it’s a good time to tell you that my great grandparents also lived in this house. My great grandmother planted the shrubs all the way around the house.

My grandmother would religiously trim “the bushes” and keep them maintained. In her later years, dad and I had to help her and eventually, take over the maintenance completely.

Picture Abbie with her regular garden shears and her clothes basket, to carry the clippings. Yes, regular garden shears! Those mill worker hands were strong and tough!

We noticed, while Abbie was still under Hospice care, the ramp was rotting. Once the house was in process of becoming mine and she had gone on to her Heavenly home, my first act of rebellion was to tear off the ramp.

The jungle is growing back, again!

Tearing off the ramp revealed the original steps. I can still picture my Grandaddy sitting on those steps. I can picture MeMaw standing in the back door, wearing nothing but her undergarments, too with zero fox given! IYKYK!

Now, we’re getting somewhere and if you don’t mind, I’ll just tell you the rest for now. I want to save some pics for comparison, once the Reno is complete. 

From this point, my parents and I removed and relocated all of the shrubs and flowers. Some made it. Some didn’t, but I knew we would run that risk, going into it. 

Do I have plans to replace anything? Shrubs- not a chance in hell. Flowers, yes, but not to jungle proportions. I’m working out landscape options in my head, but that project is not even on my immediate radar. I am just now starting to enjoy the reno, so please let me catch my breath!