Spring cleaning

Alright, so summer is technically almost over. But there were some projects that were done here at G'mas house that we were a little late in posting. In the month of May we did two things...actually we didn't really do them. For a welcome change we paid someone real money to do home improvement projects. In both cases work was done that we would be ill equipped to fulfill, and we're delighted with the results:

Kitchen Backsplash:
Here is a quick refresher. Before:


Whoops! Okay, that was before in the extreme...ahh the good ole days!

Now here is what our kitchen looked like pre and post backsplash:


Tiles look great. Oh, and under cabinet halogen lighting was installed as well. I still have some trim to install so you won't be able to see the lights, but who's counting!

Tree Trimming
We (or more correctly, our neighbors) have a huge old oak tree in our backyard. While it does help give our house a more woodsy feel in the city, it nearly closes off all direct sunlight in the back yard. And the branches were getting so huge that before the end of the summer I'm pretty sure some branches would actually touch our house. So a friend of ours knows a tree guy, and next thing you know, they're here with all the heavy equipment. And in like 2 hours, Poof! all gone. Limbs cut, chipped and hauled out. Here is the big boy in all its pre-op glory:

Bucket operator making short work of some big limbs:
Carnage:
Post-Op tree:

The difference was immediate, and all we hoped. We get more sun in the back yard, so that means the house is a bit more bright. It also means that we don't have to limit our plant selections to the shade loving section. Next summer, I'm hoping to build a couple of raised beds to grow my own. That would have been pretty disappointing if my tomatoes/beans/etc only got 1 hr (or less) of direct sun a day. We'll see next summer!