Snowstorm Prep

We're supposed to be getting some sort of weather tonight, so I decided to do the most natural thing in the world - cut brush.
That's what you do, right? No? Must just be me then.

Blackberry and goldenrod, and leaves that haven't been raked in years.

It all started because I wanted to dig out a piece of siding that's fallen off the shed and get it inside so it didn't get damaged under the snow. One thing lead to another, and a few hours later, I've got two cleaner spaces.

The offending missing siding is now in the shed.

Both of the areas that are still full of leaves are some flavor of garden. The pile there in front of the shed is all the brush that was in them. From what I can tell, there's a lot of hosta at play, maybe some day lily. The blackberries may have been cultivated once upon a time, but they are everywhere, and thicker around than my thumb, with thorns to match. There's still a ton of it around, so I didn't feel bad whacking these back.That very large shrub still standing is part lilac, part bittersweet, part random saplings, and part poison ivy. It got a haircut back from the driveway, but it'll need more attention in the future. There's a knee-blowing hole just in front of the shrub mass that appears to be an unoccupied woodchuck burrow.

I walked down to the road to look at the walls (and get the mail) and started looking harder. There's a few areas of the wall that will need to be put back up, but there in the middle, what I thought was a stone slide? Not a tumbled down spot at all.

Stairs!
(Tumbling to the right that will need repair.)

Brick pavers leading from the road to the stairs!

After an expensive week of mean surprises, this was pretty cool to find. This will be really satisfying to bring back in the spring. Once the lilacs bloom, that whole thing is going to be cleaned out and pruned heavily. Then the wall can be tuned up.