Necessity by Design

Four days ago...

Two days ago...

When I bought this house, one of the first things I did was make the neighbors an offer to move their garage--off my property.  Twelve feet of my property-- property I pay taxes on-- and a garage with a "right to maintain" that sits in my yard.

It seemed the garage would continue to be a visual affront.  I planted an Austrian black pine to screen the garage with peeling paint and unattractive aging roof, its two window giving a visual show of the plethora of trash piled within.

Thought-"ful" (-less?) Neighbor dragged his ice shanty over poor pine and across my property.

I built a fence.

Said neighbor would clean fish and throw the guts and scales over my fence into this back corner.

Okay...fertilizer?

Two rusty metal hangers were attached to my side and a collection of rusty iron rods and debris were "stored"on my side in my garden.

I planted barberries, blackberries, and the tall bushy echinecea nitidia.

Neighbor's dog would run between garage and my permanent (allowed) structure (fence) and poo in my yard.

I stacked brick.  Not permanent, but allowed-- unlike a fence running up to the garage.

And now, the garage has been sided and re-roofed,  The obnoxious windows not continued in this kinder, nicer garage.

Quite a bit of joy.  (The price? Maybe a couple quarts of trampled blackberries.)

I'm not sure I know how to act.  Strange thoughts have invaded my brain.

I could cut down the pine, which is not growing quite straight (although I have tried to make it do so), and which has been besieged by woodpeckers (often), and is starting to shade in a way I did not intend it to do.

I'm like the woman who paints her kitchen walls and realizes the linoleum has seen much better days and has to go.

Maybe not before the garden walk, but maybe the pine should go.  And now with the 100 year guaranteed siding, a actual piece of fence, not a pile of bricks?

Dangerous thoughts these...