Landscaping

We are living at my parent's house which is settled on 10 acres of beautiful country just north of nearest City (where we work and play). It is home to me, I spent most of my childhood living here and my husband prefers rural living so it's a perfect fit. We treat it like home and have been spending a lot of time planning and executing home improvements.  Who knows, maybe one day we will own this land and pass it down to our children one day. It's precious to us and we value every day we get to spend here.
There are plenty of options. Right now there are white wood fences boardering the yards and driveways, livestock fencing and dirt...lots of dirt! Oh and weeds!
Gus planted some oleander along the west fence of the driveway along with an olive tree and some other shrubs.

I followed suit and decided I really wanted a fish/frog pond. A few years back Gus collected a bunch of tadpoles from a nearby stream and we watched them grow into frogs in a livestock trough. I thought it would be nice for them to have their own little pond and a comfortable viewing area for us. The kids and I dug the hole ourselves (ok, Gus helped out a little at the end) and lined it with an old inflatable pool bottom. We surrounded it by rocks we had around the property, some old stepping stones and decorative bark. We bought a few water hyacyns and water clover for inside the pond. And added some reid grass and butterfly plants along the edge. I honestly didn't realize just how much I would enjoy the pond. It's my little area in the corner of the driveway, feels so peaceful and happy, full of life. I'm happy!

Pond in progress

Finished pond

Gus got jealous and decided he was going to build his own pond. Bigger, of course! It's still a work in progress but will never be as cute as mine! My fish are pretty happy too and the frogs will arrive in the Spring. We'll see...

Gus' pond in progress