A Little Bit of Backyard Progress

I had this master plan, where I bought my husband a hammock for Father's Day and had my brother-in-law sneakily hang it so I could unveil Mike's gift with a melodramatic "voila!" 

I purchased this hammock from overstock.com, and my plan would have worked brilliantly, except that it didn't. Two days after I ordered the hammock, UPS came to my door and I thought to myself, "it couldn't be!"

I had barely enough time to shriek sweetly ask my husband to stay away from the door before he walked into the room dragging a giant box labeled 'HAMMOCK' behind him while looking at me quizzically.

Hmm. Happy Father's Day!

Mike was excited about his spoiled surprise though, so we decided to hang it that evening. Long story short, hanging a hammock turned into a mini overhaul of the unused corner of our yard in prepation fors its conversion into an outdoor den of manly relaxation. Except for when I'm in the hammock with a girly drink; then it shall be known to all as "the shady nook of leisurely delight."

The unused corner in question is under a canopy of trees, and it was home to a wobbly potting bench, some rotting railroad ties and a compost pile which I liked in theory, but made me nervous. It was just a pile of composting material right up against the fence -- and I'm already dealing with holes in my fence on the other side of the yard from the raised garden beds that were built against the fence with nothing between the soil and the wood.

So we spent a little bit of time this weekend making things look a whole lot worse...

(Squinchy exertion-related faces of the demolishers have been removed for the protection of their egos)

... and raking up several years' worth of dropped needles on the ground... 

(enough to fill 5 giant bags, in fact)

And.. (melodramtic hand flourish)

 "voila!"

I'm glad I still got to have my dramatic unveiling, even if it was a few days late and to you guys instead of my husband.

We still have a lot of work to do in this area, but I'm really happy with how different it looks! I can't wait to get my margarita on, even if I have to use a stump for a table. I suppose I can compromise and allow some manliness into my shady nook of leisurely delight.