May 21. After several visits and a few rounds of negotiations, my wife and I moved into our new home on May 15, 2009. Those visits allowed me to get an overview of what I was getting into. Now that I'm officially here, I can dive into a little more detail. It's time to see what I have to work with.

I see that I don't actually have a garage. Since there's no door, this is technically a carport. That will be changing soon.

May 21. I see I've got a mature tree that I later learned is a crape myrtle that is surrounded by some variety of ornamental grass.

May 21.

May 21. I see that the side yard to the left of the driveway in the photo above is quite overgrown.

May 21. This side of the yard is dominated by a very tall pine tree. It looks like it's dropped a few branches over the years. But it seems to be doing well otherwise.

May 21. The large tree in the center of the photo above is a Sweetgum. I'm familiar with it because I had one in the front yard in Columbia.

May 21. I see I've got a lot of grass to mow.

May 21. There is another tall pine tree to the right of the Sweetgum in the photo above.

May 21. Another view of the giant pine tree with the dogwood tree in the foreground.

May 21. The mailbox area features an odd-looking shrub. While it seems to be doing well, symmetry isn't one of its strong suits.

May 21. I'm not sure what the small tree to the left of the pine tree in the photo above is.

May 21. The front of the house features several small shrubs.

May 25. Another view of the abundance of grass in the front yard.

May 25.

May 25: My new giant "blank canvas" of a front yard.

May 25.

May 25. The photo above is another shot of the Sweetgum tree.

May 27: When we moved from Columbia, MO, one of the items we didn't bring with us was our lawnmower. We knew we would temporarily be moving into an apartment until we found a house. Since we wouldn't be needing a mower right away, we gave it to someone who needed one before we left. One less item to move that way.

Fast forward roughly four months later. The time had come to move out of the temporary apartment and into this house. One minor detail faded into the background in the face of all the other moving items that had to be addressed. But it wasn't long before the height of the grass seen in the photos above and below quickly reminded me that needed a lawnmower. Soon !

On this day, I headed to Lowe's and picked up a John Deere push mower and immediately put it to good use.

My father-in-law took a few pics of me getting my exercise on this afternoon.

This was my first time cutting the grass at our new home.

May 29. Looking into the backyard, I see a lot of tall grass and shrubs that look like they haven't been trimmed in a long time. I also see something that looks like it has fallen over near the back fence.

May 29.

May 29. The front yard looks much better now that the grass has been cut.

May 29: This isn't the healthiest looking shrub I've ever seen. But it's green and growing.

May 29. The Sweetgum tree.

May 29. The biggest drawback of a Sweetgum tree is the abundance of those small "grenades" it drops all over the place. Walking barefoot in my yard is not advisable under any circumstances !