There I am working on my son’s bedroom and then a warm day hits and I can’t resist. Does that happen to you? My backyard restoration begins on a whim, and I have zero regrets!

After jumping out of my norm to sell my home of 22 years in a flash, then moving into this new home, THEN jumping into building, I just need a break.

And, when some may retreat to a sandy beach, I take to outdoors for work. haha!

Would this entice you to jump in?

Well, maybe not, but when your pets drag you through this three or more times a day, you want to clean it up for all concerned.

At least, for now.

START AT THE BEGINNING

For a bit of background, if you saw the new home before outside tour, you saw that there used to be a rather large outbuilding and deck behind the house.

Once it’s torn down there’s some rubble to clean up and we start at that straight away just to make it safer for us and fur family.

Lily, my senior cat, is having to adjust the most as she is both indoor/outdoor cat. She truly loves hunting and being outside all.the.time. My kids and I make immense effort both before and after moving to make it as easy as possible her, Ivan, and Loula.

Both of the cats have taken to harness training so we can acclimate them the best, safest way. Ivan already loved to go on hikes, but this is Lily’s first experience on harness and leash.

And she lets you know what she thinks about it (see video below).

I just came back from a two-mile run, took Loula out to play/potty, then took Ivan on his harness, and then Lily. She loves to nibble grass (see my Cat Grass tutorial HERE)

Lily instantly goes to the backyard while Ivan tends to hang more around the house for now.

Of course, instead of being able to use the stairs, Lily drags me up the face of the bank through briars and poison ivy.

She’s dead set on sniffing the deer that bed up there for the night as well as the groundhog hole at the top of the bush-covered steps.

Do you see why I have an itch to chop it all down?

LET’S GO

First, kids and I do a bit of cleaning before trash pickup to get rid of nails and a few other bits like this…

haha… fun eh?

While investigating I found a light wired up in a tree facing the field.

When you reach the top of the stairs, this is the view to the left.

Next, to the right…

Tons of young trees, bushes, roses, ivy and more.

That’s when I start at the bottom and work my way up. Check it out in action below

If that doesn’t make you sigh relief with me, I don’t know what will.

I can finally walk up there, we all can.

Here’s the after to the left…

Do you see that “box” we found?

If you see my explanation in the video and pics closer here, what do you think??

Next, the after to the right…

Last, but not least, the steps are finally clear and are actually very solid with a few repairs needed.

REST

Whereas I still have the brush piles to clean up and more clearing, it feels so good to look out and be able to feel a bit more at peace with going up there. Better yet, the animals are happy, and the deer keep coming to check out my handiwork.

Have you ever tackled something like this? It certainly isn’t my first landscaping rodeo and most definitely will not be my last.

In addition to leaving comment love below, do pin and share my backyard restoration beginning to encourage others to get up and outdoors for a time.

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While you’re at it, here are more outdoor projects like this backyard restoration beginning: