2022 The Transformation of the Spa Side of Back Yard

It has been 4 months now since we converted the front lawn into rock landscape. WE ARE STILL WORKING IN THE YARD!

One Spring, we found a “free” tree growing next to our corner tree. Olive Oyl immediately recognized that it was an oak tree. She wanted to remove it, but Popeye wanted to keep his “baby” tree. Its existence was “forgotten” until one day Olive Oyl realized the baby tree was about 30′ tall! 🙂 We knew the area was too small for two large trees to co-exist! The oak tree had to go. It was a huge task, but we still had “some muscles” left to handle it. So in the Fall of 2019, we cut down the oak tree and trimmed the existing tree. We kept some of the main trunk and displayed bird houses that we had painted Aah! Whimsical loving folks!

Our other tree (which has been here since the house was built), it bloomed beautifully in Spring; however, it got “sick” (fungus disease) , and dropped leaves through out the year. It also spread the fungus to the surrounding trees.

So winter 2021, we decided to remove the tree.

There was nothing left but an empty space with two huge stumps: an oak stump and a huge one from the main tree.

	Popeye drilled holes to use Epsom Salt to dissolve the stumps; but after months, it did not work as on youTube. So Popeye decided that he would remove the stumps himself! That was the task of weeks of work and muscles!
That was the stump of an oak tree.	Easy over 100 pounds!

The second one was about 3 times larger than the oak stump. This one was at least 20 years old!

	The metal spike was used with a pull-along to lever the stump out of the hole.
	Holes were drilled because we were using the Epsom salt to dissolve the stump. It did not work!
The stump needed to be cut into sections using a maul and a 10-pound sled hammer! It was too heavy to lift it out of the hole! Popeye worked by himself because I had no strength to help! Olive Oyl was NO help!
After the main stump was out, he still had to deal with tons of spider-web roots! Some were 3″ in diameter.	Tools used: chain saw, 3 replacement chains for the saw, one pick axe, one axe, shovel, pull-along, 10-pounder sledge hammer, rail road tie bar (45 pounders), and etc…
	The tree stumps removals took several weeks, tremendous work and determination.

We dug up 5 trees, replanted 3 plants. We saw how big and destructive of a big tree. We returned 3 Chaste trees that were planted several months ago after we realize the mature size. Some trees planting below:

The ground is hard like cement! The railroad tie bar weighs about 45 pounds solid iron. It helps to dig the hole!
We planted two trees (Texas Mountain Laurel) along the neighbor’s wall.	Olive Oyl helped planting trees.
We planted five trees (Texas Privet) around the spa.	Redirected watering system.
Left most is for the RV side sprinkler. Middle is for the Spa Sprinkler, converted to bubblers. Right most is existing bubblers around the wall and front hedge.	So much work and not enough pictures to show! Olive Oyl did not take pictures of all his hard work!

The previous owners of the house needed to repair some bare spots on the lawn for the sale, they chose a “quick and dirty” fix by planting “Bermuda grass”. After so many years, we are losing the “war” against Bermuda grass.!

	We are in the process of selecting a landscape company to remove the grass and replace with rocks. More updates later.