the back yard.

I apologize if you are on Facebook or Instagram and have been subjected to photos of David’s poison oak. It’s been a long, itchy week for him, but after 24 hours of steroids it’s stopped spreading and he’s finally getting some relief (and we’ve learned that he should seek medical help at the first sign next time).

This is the difference between my husband and me: I went out yesterday and got information on a landscaping company that will come clear out our yard. David on the other hand decides that since he’s going to be on steroids for the next 12 days, now is the perfect time to do some major yard work.

He covered himself up well and wore disposable gloves, so here’s hoping it doesn’t get any worse. Meanwhile, I thought I’d give you a little photo tour of the back yard.  It’s been virtually untouched since we moved in except for mowing and David’s raised bed.  Now it’s time to begin taming the beast.

I don’t have a wide angle lens so it’s difficult to get a shot of the whole yard, but here I’m standing towards the back. This whole patch right behind the house is very sunny and clear and thus it’s the only spot where we have decent grass.  Most of the rest is sandy and covered with pine trees. If you’re curious those windows are, left to right: our bedroom, the bathroom, and the dining room/kitchen, with the guest room to the right of the porch. Gotta love a ranch: everything’s in a row.

David’s garden is thriving and we’ve eaten a couple tomatoes so far. It’s clear from that basil plant that I need to make a batch of pesto (or three).

We like this little brick area off the back steps but aren’t sure what to do with it.  Build some shelves maybe? David covered all of the brush to the left with cardboard to kill it. He will eventually clear the whole area out and set up a garden work station with a little table and a sink.

If you’re standing at our back steps, this is the view to the left. Remember I told you about our concrete parking pad? Well turns out it wasn’t used for parking — it was a basketball court! Which explains the gaudy light post. We keep our grill in this space and are making plans to do something cool with that patio in the future (maybe involving a gazebo).

Yep, we’ve got our share of towering South Carolina pines.

There is lots of overgrowth to the left of that patio, which David spent several hours yesterday working on. We want to take out those smaller trees too.

In the meantime, the kids enjoyed the blow-up pool.

Here’s some nice storage under our back porch.

This is the to the right as you’re standing looking at the back of the house. We have a little basement room with an exterior entrance only. Above it is our guest/school room, and since we have no reason to use that outside door, we plan to eventually take it out.

The basement room is great for storage and can eventually be a work shop for David. There’s even a pegboard for his tools and a window for natural light. The downside is that this room flooded soon after we moved in. We learned about the issue during inspections so weren’t surprised. Until we come up with a better sealing solution, we’ve raised everything or stored it in plastic.

We discovered this lovely bloom in the side yard. Hello, hibiscus!

Here’s the culprit for David’s misery. He attacked all the poison oak he could find yesterday.

Thank you, Lord, for Prednisone.

I’m so not a yard work person, so I’m very, very thankful to have a husband who is. It’s fun to make plans and dream that one day it will be a space where people want to spend hours hanging out.