ivy

I am blistered, scratched, and bruised.  The ivy is not going down without a fight.   But fight, I will.  And more than that, I will prevail.

Our backyard came overgrown with ivy.  The back fence not even visible.  The four trees that grow back there are being suffocated by it.  We knew it would be a battle that would take time.  Ivy is tough.

But what I didn't know is that it would be so fun to cut down.  And I'm not even being sarcastic!  With each vine cut the tree trunks are freed, the fence is revealed.  It is all very rewarding.

Here is the corner of the yard that has not been touched.  There is a fence in there, and two trees.

Here is the middle of the back fence.  I was having so much fun making progress that I probably would have worked till dark but my husband called me off of it.  But you can see the trunk of a tree that had once been camouflaged by ivy.  You can also see the neighbor's house.  They have a little white dog that was highly unnerved by all the racket that was going on at the fence. 

And here is the corner that I have mostly completed.  There are still vines on the ground that will need to be cut and the fence is going to need to be fixed but the amount of difference is remarkable.  I love the reward of physical labor.

 

 

Before and after: 

 

 

I also came upon the labor of some bird.  A well constructed nest was nestled in the large vines up next to a tree.  They had used some trash and sticks and glued it all together with mud.  I had to remove the nest to be able to fully remove the ivy but I'm pretty sure it is not inhabited at this time.  With how thick the ivy is I'm positive it will not be the only nest I find.