When we were looking for land on which to build our home over 30 years ago, we wanted a lake, a nice creek, or a great view. We found that we couldn’t have all of them, so when we found this piece of land on top of a ridge line in Greenwood with a great view to the south, we jumped on it. When we were sitting on our porch several months ago, we were dismayed that we could no longer see down the hill into the valley due to a huge surge in growth of what we call, “weed trees.” They come up like a rocket and grow no matter what. They’ve particularly enjoyed the wet spring we had and the fairly mild summer.
We were also upset that we had lost our ‘fire break’ that might protect our home in the case of wild-fire.
We hired a man who works in Greenwood, handles several people’s lawns on the weekends, and agreed to take on the project of cutting our weed trees down. We agreed that he would come when he could and would pay him by the hour until the job was done.
He finished today and we’re delighted. This is our view taken while I’m sitting in a chair on the porch.
Here’s another shot from another chair on the porch.
Here’s a pic taken while sitting on the deck.
This one was taken standing in the yard.
And another. You can see that I still need to use the weed whacker to clean up the edges between the ‘civilized’ part of the back yard and the hill, but that won’t be too large a job.
We’re delighted to have our view back, plus we now feel safer that we could protect our home in case of a wild-fire.
Money well spent, indeed! THANK YOU, Shane.
creativeartworksblog 
You do really have some great views Linda. I do understand, that you wished to protect your house against any possible wildfire. I do still remember the wildfire, where I lived around 2 years ago, it was not nice.
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Thanks, Irene, for your kind words about our view. We just love it, plus pretending that we own all we can see. I’m sorry you experienced a wild fire. I don’t ever want to, but it’s one of the vulnerabilities where we live. It feels good to be proactive on trying to protect ourselves as much as possible.
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Good that you are protective. Back then it was a wing of a windmill falling down and started the fire. Even the green between the neighbors area and my house were burning, so I was lucky and got away with my animals in time. Waited 2 km away for many hours and the police allowed us to go home in the night, but still be ready to escape, if necessary. It was not, but what an experience…
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Wow! What an awful experience you had! I’m so glad you got out and saved your animals, but it must have been really scary. It would be hard to feel safe in your home after that. We’re lucky. Our two really scary things are wild-fire and tornadoes. I’ve never seen or been threatened by either of these up close, thank goodness. I hope I never see them. You do what you can and hope for the best. I’m delighted that you now live so close to the ocean. I envy you that. :0)
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Yes, it was awful Linda. I stood not far away and just watched the fire without being able to do anything. I did photograph, what I saw and also the helicopters, as were flying with water. I moved short time after.
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I’m so sorry this happened to you. I hope that you’re now able to relax, having moved to a new place with a wonderful place to garden and take walks. I hope getting back to yoga will also help you relax and feel stronger. You’re such a creative lady. I hope that when you’re making beautiful new jewelry, you’re taken to a wonderful place where only the creation exists. Oh, a quick question – do you have sandpipers on your beach?
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I don’t know with the sandpipers Linda, it is rarely, that birds stay in the beach, when I bring Odin also.
Thank you for your kind concern.
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Oh, that makes sense. The birds would think Odin planned to eat them. Sandpipers are one of my favorite things in the world. I almost never get to see them, but they make me laugh aloud when I see them on their tall legs skittering across the sand. :0)
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