Yesterday, Andrea and I dared to go in the back half of our backyard, a space that the guy who owned the joint before us had sectioned off and tied his dog up in. The fence back there is not hound-proof so we've never let the dogs back there and pretty much forgot about it. Well...the fence between our house and the charming folks behind us has fallen down in parts, leaving a big hole! It is such a White Trash haven now. Looks like the new windows will have to wait in lieu of a new fence, at least for that section.

I also ripped down half of the gigantic cactii we have back there. We plan to remove them altogether and one day soon make it a dog-friendly area (though how to handle the avacados is an open issue). I got pricklies all over, in my jeans, my shoes, my shirt and my hands. No fun, but the yard looks somewhat better if you ignore the gaping hole and the children staring at you from it.