Making it ours

I've never been a huge fan of yews, but they certain can't be beat when it comes to hardiness.  And in the 60's it was definitely the go-to foundation shrub!  We have them all around the back porch, and though they weren't overgrown, they blocked the view if you were sitting on the porch swing - and we quite often are!  We were going to pull them out, but this morning I made some attempts to dig them out with a shovel - it wasn't going to happen easily. I don't know why i thought it would!  then i read about it on a few forums and short of using the truck to pull them out of the ground, it was not going to happen easily.  However, I did read that yews can be pruned back really had and they'll green up on old wood, so I decided that'd be the compromise.  Just whack them down and then keep them shorter.  This is what they look like now!  They'll look like crap for a season, but I think they'll be just fine!  And the view is so much better!!

This is what it looked like before:

Also, in the spirit of making the place our own, Billy pulled out the flagpole in the front yard the other day!  we were taking a walk around and he just pulled it out with brute force!  yay!  really - we weren't going to put out those seasonal craft store flags, it just needed to go!  

In animal news, we had all the cats go awol on Wednesday night - we forgot to latch the screen door on the porch and the cats found a way to slide it and they took off!  when i woke up on Thursday morning, i saw the door open and knew what happened - it had happened once before, but only one cat decided to take off.  and he came right back when he saw me walk to the door.  This time, however, i ran around and was only able to find Olive and Borris - the two tuxedo cats who are about a generation away from being barn cats and could probably make it, even though they're declawed.  The one I couldn't find was Buckley - the fancy pants Himalayan!  Of course, it's the one who has had all the street smarts bred out of him in favor of pretty.  that's the one who was out there!  he didn't come home all day so i made flyers at work (i know!) and stopped at every house on our street.  i met some nice people!  still he didn't come home.  all day Friday he didn't come home.  ugh.  we felt awful!  we walked the property thinking he might just be hiding under a shrub in his usual scaredy cat fashion - nothing.  Then on Friday night he just walked up to the back door like nothing happened!  it had been raining a lot but he'd obviously found a hiding place and just stayed there because his feet were muddy, but he was dry - and you can tell when a long haired cat got wet then dried out - it's not pretty!  Whew! we were sooooo happy to see him!  Today our neighbor - an animal lover probably in her 70's - yelled over "did you find your cat?" and we said YES!  and she said YAY! and pumped her arms in the air - it was very sweet!  Oh, in other animal news, Janet, the wild turkey, was in the yard taking a dust bath in the dirt where our grass still hasn't grown over the new septic system - it was so cool!