The Holly And The Ivy

Another beautiful day dawned here, and I trotted out with my trimming implements in hand, excited to bring my new loving vision to the behemoth that has taunted us since we moved in here nearly 7 years ago.

With the county going through our neighborhood to pick up yard trimmings on April 1, I have strong incentive to get big branches moved out that I can’t use elsewhere in the yard. The county mulches them down for the parks and greenways, for which I am grateful.

It quickly became clear that once I got into the center of the mammoth, it would be much easier to see what needed to be cleared out.

The impressive Tarzan vines caused difficulty more than once.

I had one large branch I had cut off, but was not able to pull out of the tree myself. The vine was hanging on so high up and I couldn’t sever it.

In an attempt to give it a huge heave to see if I could slide the tree branch out through the grasping arms of the vines, a piece of the branch broke and I landed hard on my keister. It was the hardest I had ever sat down before, and my first thought was, “Oh, that’s what a tooth rattling feels like.”

Bounced back up and eventually Buds came out to check in and feel the sunshine. With his help we were able to get the branch disentangled and onto the ground.

I kept working my way around the holly bush.

Buds spent a few minutes pulling on the vines higher up. I asked him to stop after a bit because when he breathes too heavily the cough comes back, and that’s no fun for anybody.

It’s an impressive pile when it’s laid out.

Before:

After:

There’s a matching holly mammoth on the other side of the yard. It’s a little unclear if it belongs to us or neighbor Ken. He and I might have to wrestle off for it. I’m not sure if the winner gets to be the one to trim it or not.