I Guess You Can Be A Plotter Or Pantser...Landscaper

 There's a way authors use to describe their writing style and it consists of two words...

Plotter,

Or Pantser.

The two words come from the way a writer approaches a project. Many of the more disciplined writers (I'm painting with a broad brush here...) will sit down and plot out their story. They create outlines of the beginning, middle, and end. Then they'll plot out each chapter. When they're done, they can follow the outline and fly through the story, creating masterpieces in record time. Of course, they can spend months--or longer--plotting so it can take a while to actually finish a novel.

Then, there's the pantsers. "Panster" is not actually a word (at least, I get a misspelled notice every time I type it...). It does have a meaning, though. Writers who fail to outline and just go for it, us the "seat of their pants" approach, thus...panster. They take longer, usually, to finish a story, and sometimes the endings can be a little weird. Stephen King is a notorious panster...apparently.

But, can these approaches be applied to landscaping?

I suppose they can be applied to almost anything. Although, I would not like to drive a car or be in a building where the designer/builders used the "pantser" approach. And putting in a yard shouldn't be done "by the seat of your pants." Still, I wonder if there's a yard out there where they didn't plan, they didn't plot, they didn't outline or prepare or put any thought into what they wanted at all.

It's time for us to think about the back yard. In our family, my wife's more the plotter, and I have agreed with those plans. If we can swing it, it's going to be great.

Give Thanks...Good Neighbors--And A Lot Of Rocks

 Moving can be scary. Flat out, one-hundred percent. There are many things that can make it scary, one of which is who you're going to live next to...the neighbors. And to add to the equation, we had the best neighbors where we used to live--and not just because I personally chose (or persuaded...) many of them to live next to us. No, they are top-notch, quality families. We love them and it was tough leaving that street because of it.

I think our moving experience was unique. The pandemic created its own unusual situations, and almost everyone in our neighborhood was new. The people were friendly, but we rarely saw anyone. People were "encouraged" to not interact with each other. Thankfully, we did so anyway.

A new home means a new yard. The builders gave us a finished house, but they left the yard to us. We've been working like dogs in the yard since the spring, but there was one thing we could not do by ourselves. Well...we could, but it would have taken us months to do it.

Move tons of rocks.

When we put in our sprinkler system, we didn't want anything to grow on the north side of the house or the park strips. We looked into buying landscape rocks and having them delivered, but when we saw huge piles of rocks in our neighbor's back yards, we had an idea, and after speaking with those neighbors, we came up with a plan. Move the rocks to our lot.

Our neighbor Gary offered to move the rocks for us. For just over a week he drove his skid steer from his house to the rock piles to our house where he dumped them and we placed them where we wanted them to go. So much work. Yet, our neighbor brought load after load and when we discussed payment--he would have none of it.

We've only been here less than a year and the more we get to know our neighbors, the more blessed we feel. We're grateful that they've welcomed us and made us feel a part of their community. Good neighbors and rocks...sometimes they're related.