The above view is from the front porch, looking down the side of the house. It may not look very tall, but it is. Below, you'll see the patch behind the fireplace brick pile sprouting up. I'm 6'4'' and a lot of those shoots are taller than I am.
I think a few posts back I wrote about this tree along the side of the house. I'm not sure what kind of tree it is, but I left it back when we cut the bamboo the first time, just to see what it would do. It's trying to do something, but I think it's going to have to go. It's too close the side of the house.
After a good bit of work, the picture below shows what I accomplished in the front bunch of bamboo. Man, it was hot outside. I had to keep taking breaks to drink water and sit in the shade a bit.
Of course it didn't help that it was on a Saturday afternoon during the hottest part of the day. The halo of bamboo behind this brick pile kept leering at me and mocking me. I was tired just looking at it. But slowly, I started on it, as I had the front, pacing myself to not get too hot.
I thought about my grandmother a lot while working outside that day. I always do when I work in the yard. I felt like she was right there with me, working along side me, encouraging me to keep going and telling me how much better it was looking with every shoot I cut down.
The shoots themselves weren't thick; I was cutting them with hand snips and some I could rip right out of the ground. But they sure were dense and resilient.
This marked my halfway point through the clump in the back. I'd already cut down the first bit and this bed of bamboo is about three times as big. I felt like it was growing back as I cut it.
But looking down at it, I could see the progress I was making, however slow. I found it easier to just do it, rather than think about what I was doing. Or how hot it was.
At this point, I quit for the day. It was just too hot and the last few times I bent over, I was feeling lightheaded. So I called it a day. A few moments after a refreshing shower, I got a call to come fill in for someone at work. Good timing.
So, another day is left for me to work down there. I still need to find the stuff to hopefully kill it. My aunt has suggested something, but I haven't made the time to go pick it up yet, plus I was waiting to get it all cut back again, first.
I may talk with the Tree Man soon to get a bid about taking down those two trees out front and the one along the side of the house. I plan on landscaping the house, one day, and trees will be replanted, just not ones that will get as big as the ones there now. Hopefully the bamboo will be gone then, permanently.
I also have met up with another contractor (surprise) down at the house since the last few I've talked to have flaked out on me. I'm trying not to get too excited about him, though, since my history with contractors at the house. But maybe he'll come through for me. I hope so.
It's been a little over a year since the tornado, so contractors are running out of the work that has kept them steadily busy for so long. Maybe I'll be next.
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