My Back Yard Before and After~2011

Hi Everyone, 

I hope you had a great weekend.  I did. I had a spa day on Thursday.  You know the Hair, Nails, Feet and some new makeup thing. I've been planning this post  for a long time but I had to go back into the old photos and find some photos of our house when we first bought it in 1969.  I didn't take as many photos then.  And, Yes! in was 43 years ago.

Our house was a Cal Vet Repo... and yes they even did repo's in the 60's. Our house was 800 sq feet.  No water or Sewer and black linoleum on the kitchen counters.  I know it's the stuff that is suppose to be on the floors. We got a deal.  I loved the property and it was in the country then but now we are right in the middle of the city.  Go Figure.

There was a water well and thank GOD for that.  Because we are still using the well to water our entire yard.  We did hook up to the city water and sewer before we moved into the house. The rest of the story about our house remodel is HERE

Before 

How it was then

Cute kids and our dog Lady

Our son Tom is 12 and our son Pat is 9. They were wonderful  young children.  Helping with the yard work and building a fort in the back yard for their entertainment.  We also had a chicken coop with 23 hens and the smaller white building is the FORT. We had a very old oak tree right outside our house.  Someone thought it might have been a 100 years old.  It sure had a lot of leaves. In 1990 the tree came down with some disease and we had to remove it from the center of our planter box.  It was so beautiful.

The digger pines are dangerous and our property wasn't usable with so many trees.  My sweetheart removed all of them.  He sold the lumber to the lumber mill for railroad ties.  The tin building is where the garage is now and the pressure tank is inside the garage behind the outside kitchen in the following photos.

My children read my posts and I thought they would love to see their young dad playing on the mini-bike.

I think he is around 28 years old. 

After

and how it is now

I'm standing on our patio to photograph the back yard.  Our yard is 120' wide by 260' long.

When the pergola area is landscaped this spring our entire yard will be finished.  We have an automatic water system for all the flower beds.  The vegetable garden is still watered by hand, but that's not my JOB!

We have an outdoor kitchen and the Wolf range is covered for protection against the winter weather.  The well pressure tank is just behind the stove.  Remember the tin building?

When our children were small the entire yard was in vegetable garden.  As the children grew up and left home and I went to work we didn't need a large vegetable garden and sweetheart and I started to develop the flower borders and planted the rest in lawn.  My sweetheart mows the lawn every Thursday all summer long on his riding lawn mower.  Flowers have always been my passion.  Being 1/2 English it feels very natural to play in a garden.  I love Roses and Perennials and after visiting England and Scotland where the lush flowers
grow I'm so inspired to have my own English garden at My Cozy Corner.

This is May and the Roses are blooming.

This is in July and the Black-Eyed Susan or Rudbeckia  are  in bloom.  They give a great show for months.  And during the hot summer when every other plant is gasping for life the Black-Eyed Susans just bloom and bloom.    

This is part of the inside area near the patio and kitchen.  I have to protect the tender plants in the patio each winter.

So as I sit here on this cold January evening remembering the wonderful years I've had developing this great space.  I know one thing for sure.  There is peace and joy as I study the flower beds and plan what I will change in the summer of 2012.
Thanks for visiting My Cozy Corner.
I will be joining:
Between Naps on the Porch for Met Monday
The House in the Roses for Show off Your Cottage Monday
Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesday
A Delightsome Life for Home and Garden Thursday
and 
My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday
xo
Betty
P.S. Thanks for your wonderful comments