rain makes corn...

corn makes whiskeeeyyyy.

yeah. you know the song. and now it's probably going to be stuck in your head all day, too. you're welcome.

anyway. after a year-and-a-half wait, austin and i finally got to make our rain barrel! we signed up through outdoor chattanooga, paid a mere $25 {pre-made ones at stores are around a hundred bucks!}, and showed up to assemble the thing, despite there being some mis-communication in the whole signing up step...

when you show up at the class, they pretty much have most of the work done, but save the last couple of steps for you {even though there are only about 5 steps total}. step one was screw in the little hose connector spigot thingy.

step two: put a bunch of gorilla glue around it to hold/seal it.

step three: attach the overflow tube thingy.

step four: wait awkwardly for a few minutes until you realize you are finished and can take the barrel and leave.

once you get home, step five: cut the top off because we have a better idea for debris/mosquito control.

step six: paint the bad boy {to protect if from cracking due to the sun}.

step seven: realize the paint color you picked out was terrible, so give up on trying to make it look good.

step eight: cover the top and overflow tube with screen, secure with metal thingy {am i talking over your head here?}.

here's where we take a little time out to do some prep work on the area where the rain barrel is going to go.

see this picture of the side of the house when we moved in? and see the mass of ivy/shrub/weeds taking over the sidewalk area? yeah, that's where the barrel is going to go up against the house.

after we pulled the big stuff out by tying it to a truck and i painstakingly pulled up the rest of the vine-y roots, austin and i bought some new plants for around the barrel.

so here's that same view today. much improved, yes?

we propped the rain barrel up on some cinder blocks and although it ain't pretty, it's necessary. the whole thing has to be high enough to get some pressure for flow.

hopefully, the hostas and other plants {which i can't remember the names of currently} will grow nice and big and camouflage the barrel a bit. i also plan to find a better paint color.

so there. rain barrel complete. for now. we did have a few hiccups regarding the gutter, too. turns out this down spout was completely and totally clogged with dirt from the ground to above my head height. not very effective when you're trying to collect water from the downspout. after a few trips to the roof and some messy cleanup, i'm happy to report we're clog free!

and while we're on the topic of getting rid of out of control greenery...

two things about this picture. 1. the holly tree-like thing that tries to grab you as you walk up the steps here. and 2. if you squint, you can maybe see the vines/trees overtaking the fence around the side yard.

so the holly tree thing wasn't a big deal, but it's placement was just not right. however, the trees and vines and weeds taking over juliet's fence definitely were causing a problem, slowly pulling the fence down. it had to go. and i do apologize for the lack of better picture of the fence situation.

but now that it's gone, i think you can see a difference on the fence. and if you can't see a difference, just know that there is a huge one. about 15 more feet of exposed fence and it actually stands up straight now.

we also chopped down the gigantic tree/bush that was overtaking the mailbox. oh and i forgot to share we built a new mailbox a while ago.

we still need to get rid of the stump here, but right about the time the guys got the tree down, they realized there was a nasty vine of poison ivy running all throughout it. progress froze there.

the last two pictures of the house i have you can really see how much vines and such we removed. the vines were covering the fence from the left side of the picture here almost all the way to the gate. it was out. of. control.

we also chopped quite a bit down from the "wall of trees" dividing our yard from the neighbors.

and now we wait for curbside brush pickup...

also, we wait for my sunburn to subside before we do anymore yard work.

we also go buy sunscreen.

one last thing:

MY MOMMA AND MY TIMMY ARE COMING TO SEE ME ON FRIDAY!

i am so. pumped. i have no idea what we are going to do while they are here, but i don't care. i'm just super duper excited to see them. clearly, since i used capital letters and the term "super duper." you know it's for real.