i hate to admit it

but it's kind of fun getting all hot and sweaty doing yardwork when it's your own personal privately-owned yard. (okay, maybe fun isn't the word. maybe it's "rewarding" -- but it still feels good to get out there and do hard work, feel your body working, and see immediate results.)

oh, also you can get immediately into the pool to cool off.

and, after we got done trimming the back-to-the-jungle palms and oleanders and everything, we found a citrus tree! we don't know what kind of citrus it is, but it's out there! anybody recognize this tree or this fruit?

and here's what the pool area looked like when we got done. sorry we don't have pictures of before, but just imagine the JUNGLE. we even took a couple wild jungle plants completely out.
also, this is the back of our house:
it is a very dangerous thing to be a bird here. apparently i keep my windows really, really clean because we have at least one "bird strike" a week. there was one just now while i was outside photographing the backyard. ridiculous.