This is so Pathetic

I know I have to accept the fact that my body is not going to tolerate the outdoor chores I used to be able to do.  I just can't seem to get it through my head that even when I wake up feeling kind of chipper, the project  I envision getting done is out of reach.  I appreciate the fact that my teenage grandson is nearby and willing to keep the grass cut.  Although this year with no rain, it's really an issue of keeping the dandelions cut.

The soil in this neighborhood is not the stuff farmers can write home about. Someone told me this area was a dump of some sorts. I believe it too.  I can live with that. Nobody on the street has a particularly nice looking lawn so I fit right in.

The way this house is built, I have one window that looks out on the street. That window is in this room I sit at on the computer so I am often gazing out at passing walkers, dogs, deer, cars, kids, etc.
Underneath this window is a small garden area. I was the first resident of this house and this is how the front entrance way looked then. (2008)

Here's how it took shape after I started to envision my cartoon-like garden spot.  Yeah, clutter is the name of the game.  I never did have a good sense of design.

See that tiny little bush by the green watering can underneath the crooked birdfeeder?  Well, that thing took off and grew with blue flowers.

It was pretty enough if you could keep it pruned back but it didn't take any time at all for it to consume the whole area so you  couldn't  walk on the bricks.  The bees, of course, thought it was delightful but I had enough of them swarming around the front and back yard enjoying the dandelions.  All the flowers were drying up so I decided to go out there and start lopping off the branches which were higher than me and approaching the roof.  I kept at it until the yard was full.

Hunter was here mowing and when he saw how much I had cut, he said it would have been easier if I'd just had him saw the tree down and we could pull it across the street to the scotch broom block.  I hadn't really thought about removing the tree but after I cut off a lot of the branches, it did look like a piece of junk.  He retrieved the saw from the garage and managed to get it out for me.

I took a look at the pictures today of the area and compared them to how they looked before I had a hand in landscaping.

I know this area can be salvaged but it's going to take time. Weeding is first, of course, and that is one of the chores that I have to do in stages (sitting down if possible).  I hauled those stones from a vacant lot nearby that the builder had abandoned.  Grass and weeds were growing up around them so I made several wheelbarrow trips back and forth thinking I could make some kind of rock wall.  It's not exactly what I had in mind but my back is not going to let me do a whole lot of rearranging now.

The whole time Hunter and I were outside working,  the neighbor's dogs on the other side of the fence barked and yapped NON STOP!  It was hard enough sweating and toiling in that sun without having to listen to them.  The neighbors, of course, were off for the day again.