A Little Less Jungle, Please: Part 2

Coming home from Colorado, I was struck again with just how jungly our yard has gotten.  

For a while now Ben and I have thought about taking down the pergola that the wisteria was climbing.  The pergola itself was now more than twenty-five years old; it was the very first yard project we did when we moved here.   We planted two vines, one on each side,  and made a bet with Ben's brothers as to how long to would take for them to meet in the middle of the pergola.  I forget who won but remember that the vines got off to a slow start and it took several years for them to finally join into one canopy.  

Now, however, after all these years,  the pergola was leaning rather dramatically and the vines themselves had gone crazy with their power and were constantly invading the nearby yard and garden.  It was time for the pergola to go and the vines to be severely whacked back,  or maybe even eliminated entirely (the verdict is still out on that!)    

Yesterday Ben announced that he was going out to do "a bit of pruning," and an hour or so later I found him hard at work taking the bolts out of the pergola.  

It took quite a while to get them loosened, but then Ben called for help for the next few steps, hitching up the "come-a-long"...... 

....and whacking away at the structure.

Finally, it gave way.

And with quite a bit more whacking and some judicious use of the chain saw, the pergola was down!

It took a lot more work to clear everything away, and the final pruning out will take a few more mornings, but meanwhile it is wonderful to see all the light coming into the area.