Urban Jungle in My Front Yard

You will notice that every once in a Blue Moon (better than a Blue Bolt...just saying) my entries aren't always me Ranting and raving about the daily stupidity I'm subjected to.  I have a good one for tomorrow about Parents who think their Precious Little Snowflakes are entitled to be with them everywhere and said Snowflakes are constantly annoying the Hell out of everyone around them.  But that's for tomorrow.  The Wife and I have been actually making headway on the landscaping projects around the house (on those precious few days when it's not FREAKING RAINING!!!!) and not only does it look good, it gives you that sense of accomplishment.   NO, the pond is still not dug yet....that's coming though.   When we moved in, there were two huge sets of juniper bushes....the Perfect Line knows these well as a whole sea of them was planted outside his house he once owned in Cali.....we are talking huge, sprawled out, and hiding the house.   One set was in front of the Step-Daughter's room and the other in front of the Front Porch.  Cat lopped them as best she could then I took my trusty chainsaw to them and got them down to stumps as low down as I could go.   Well recently we've decided to remove said stumps and landscape the area.  When the bushes were removed, it was like I had a new house!  It actually made the house look bigger.  Apparently the moron that lived there before us...probably several morons ago...liked to plant huge, bush like things right against the freaking outside walls of the house.  Why do people do this?  It closes your house in and makes it look smaller.   Anyway, back to the stumps.   Unless you have a tractor with a strong chain, might I suggest not trying to remove stumps with a shovel and pick axe.  It takes a long time and we had 6 total to remove.  Holy Crap!!!  What a pain in the ass that was.  We decided for the space in front of the porch to plant some Hostas and some small bushes...ones that only get 3 foot high and about that wide.  We got some Soft Touch Hollies.  They grow in a dome shape and stay compact.  Nice looking stuff.  The Hostas are nice too.  Basically large leafed, flowering ground cover that will spread over time.  We got rid of all the bricks surrounding the flower beds and bought some landscape timbers....they are cheap at Lowes, about 1.69 a piece.  We put a barrier of timbers, two high, around the bed.  Drilled a hole and drove them into the ground using these HUGE galvanized nails we found for about .70 a piece....basically foot and a half long nails.  Looks good and holds well.  Before we put the timbers down we rolled out landscape fabric to keep the weeds out and cut holes in it to access the soil below for planting.   On top of that went red mulch.  It looks nice.  In place of the other Junipers we took out, we put two Hollies that grow in a column shape and only get about 4 inch diameter and about 5 foot tall.  One on either side of Liv's window.  The rest of that area is going to become a courtyard/patio.  We have stacks of flagstone from my In-Laws house and plan on using those.   When we bought the house, I made a point to get several bird feeders because to me a yard full of wildlife makes your property seem alive.   Some houses you see are sterile looking and manicured to the point of looking fake.  You hear no birds or insects, heck even the neighborhood cats avoid it.  So far in the 4 years I've lived there I've seen so many different species of bird it's amazing.  Finches of all kinds, even Gold Finches.  Red Headed Woodpeckers, Cardinals, Mockingbirds and Robins.  Said Robin Family decided to build a nest in our carport this year.....and it's hysterical to see little tiny Robins flying around our yard.  Apparently our new landscaping is popular with the Wildlife.   Little side note here so you understand the following section.  I've told you of our Diva Kitty Panther, AKA the Paw of Doom or Fish Slayer.  She is a Japanese Bobtail who likes to fetch, is grumpy and growls like a dog when the doorbell rings or she sees or hears something she doesn't like.  She's quite the tough cat.   The other night it was warm enough to have the windows open and Panther was sitting on the sill looking out on the front porch when she started to growl.....deep growl.  I went over to see what was pissing her off, and there on the porch cringing away from Fish Slayer: The Paw of Doom was a good sized Raccoon.  He proceeded to run off....probably lured to our yard by the new landscape.  The next day I saw a grey squirrel with a walnut the size of it's head in it's mouth digging in our new landscaping.  He dug in one place, encountered landscape fabric, dug in another with the same result, then belly crawled his way under one of our biggest Hostas to bury his treasure for wintertime.  It was rather funny to see this furry tail sticking out from under the Hosta......