We’ve been hard at work these past two weeks. Just not at the hoard.

We always do this to ourselves; we hit a time crunch for completing a unit flip before a tenant moves in, and it involves many late night trips to the hardware store and Taco Bell. But, now I can put window installation and shower tiling on my resume. Don’t worry, it looks just fine if you squint real hard.

To pass the time and relax between sessions, I chopped down a tree or two at the hoard, and set up the flagstone path at our house.

Not the hoard property. But still cool.

Now that the unit is all set, we can start thinking about what comes next at our project house.

Options abound:

• Brush removal
• Garage assessment (requires brush removal)
• Tree trimming and removal (requires brush removal)
• Chimney, gutter, and siding assessment (requires brush removal)
• New dumpster (requires brush removal)

There are literally so many options on what to do first!

Hence, it seems that our next job will be to contract or acquire a chipper/shredder and have some of the tangled mess of the backyard removed, as well as the limbs and trees I have already taken down.

The largest trees have been checked, and other than the dead tree growing on the north side of the hoard, we figure at least two more trees will need to go in order to make the backyard seem less like a forest and get some light through the canopy.

Once the brush is cleared from all around the house, including the bushes that are growing by the driveway, we can get a new dumpster, hopefully situated a bit closer to the house for ease of tossing in junk. Once more trash disappears, we can probably get some of the furniture and appliances out in the open and assess what may be salvageable with staining or painting or reupholstering, and what will be trash.

Perhaps we can uncover the tub or the fireplace, or better still…

…enter the basement.