Friday Smiles 433: The bamboo saga continues

 

It's Friday and I'm joining Friday Smiles which is hosted by Annie (at A Stitch in Time).   Let's visit her and the other wonderful ladies who also share their smiles each Friday.  I probably shouldn't join in because I will be busy the rest of the day preparing for the neighborhood cleanup which is tomorrow.  For those who don't know, all materials need to be at the curb by 6 p.m. tonight.  I'm going to work until it's all finished, though.     

For those of you who don't know, I am trying to get rid of all my very invasive bamboo that has taken over my yard.  I've been working on it since Monday, only taking breaks when I get too exhausted or need a muscle break.  Consequently, I may not visit you until Saturday.   I must find a way to get rid of it, because when I dug it up in 2012, it came back with a vengeance.

Some of you may remember when I had this dill.  I only show it because you can see what the bamboo looked like in July.  Yes, last month.  See how much it has encroached on my yard.

 

Allow me to digress.  This is from 2015.  To answer Erika's question about how long it's been since I've seen the fence, it was probably 2012 or 2013.

 

You can't see a lot, but this is the only photo of the bamboo I could find from 2016.

This is just a partial view of the bamboo in 2017.

This is just a small part of what it looked like on Tuesday after I worked two days chopping it down.

More from Tuesday.

This was the mess I had on Wednesday.

You can see I've already taken some of the bundles to the curb in anticipation of the Saturday pick up.

 

It's fairly obvious, my big guy is totally uninterested in helping.  Of course, Squiggles is nowhere to be found now my camera is out.

 

This shot doesn't look much different from Wednesday, I fear.

This was Wednesday again. 

 

Note the piles of brush that are still in the yard, but more importantly, note the neighbor's fence and all the stuff growing on it.

 

Here is where you begin to see a difference, though.

Bags and bags of these bamboo shards have already been taken to the curb.

Now look at the yard  and more importantly, note the neighbor's fence.

This area is looking much better already.  I will probably wait until after the cleanup to remove the rest of that vine.  That can easily go in the compost pile, while bamboo cannot go into a compost pile.

As of Thursday morning, these are the fruits of my labors.

Up close and personal, so to speak.

Bags of bamboo shards and tree limbs are on this side of my driveway.

I keep fixating on all that bamboo.

As I was heading inside, I noticed one more Naked Lady/Surprise Lily was popping up.

I turned to take one more photo of the lilies in the flower bed.

Imagine my surprise when I saw this beautiful rose in full bloom.

Believe it or not, it's now 9:22 p.m. Thursday night and I am calling this project finished.

It may not look this late, but I am having a hard time keeping the camera steady because it wants to compensate for the lack of light.

I'll let you peruse a few of these shots I took.

I'm thrilled with how this looks.  It's the first time I've been able to get to the north side of my house due to the bamboo being in the way.

I'm also quite happy with the south side of my house, too.

For this, I stood in the center of the yard so you could get an idea of where all that bamboo had been.

In an attempt to keep the gazillion mosquitoes that were trying to suck all my blood, I lit a fire in the chiminea.  Now it's time to put it out, get these photos off my camera and take a well deserved shower.  Maybe after I shower, I'll soak in the tub, if I have enough time.

Sorry I have no funnies today.  Just lots of work.  Now let's visit Annie (at A Stitch in Time) and the lovely ladies who join her for Friday Smiles.  Thanks again for visiting and spending a bit of time with sleeping Bleubeard and me this Friday.  We would love to have you join us, too.  I promise I won't put you to work.  It's all finished except the mowing.  BTW, I will not be joining you lovely ladies next Friday.