My poor rose bushes

Yesterday was the first day I had a chance to work out in the yard - finally. The weather was going to be great! I woke up, got ready & went outside - without taking any pics of the before. I'm a bad blogger. But once I decide to do something I don't wanna do - I just have to go straight there & do it. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. Any distractions give me excuses to not do it!

So I was outside pulling some of the 9 gazillion weeds. You can't really pull weeds with gloves. So my hands were green & brown & under my nails is nasty. B-rad came out to finish mowing the yard. I was pulling morning glories off of my daylillies next to the house. Then I saw a BIG spider crawling on the wall. I'm not talkin' a grand daddy long legs or nothing like that. I'm talkin' a big, black spider with the big, black butt with all kinds of poison to kill me. So I screamed, "BRAD!!! BRAD!!!!" And he came running! I said, "BIG SPIDER, BIG SPIDER!" So he smooshed it on the wall. And I snapped. Crap! I need to take pics!!! Morning glories have tried to over take my day lillies. I was complaining to Brad after he killed the spider about how awful it was. He says to me, "Yea, you let it go too long." Hhmmm, ya think?!

Since I didn't get any before pics, I took some after of some of the schrapnel I had already pulled.

You have to understand. The yard work is my problem. I have no one to help me. B-rad is busy with farming stuff. It's all on my shoulders. And my shoulders have been full. If you look very closely, you can see on of my plants mixed in with the weeds. They were totally choking it out.

I have been complaining about how my day lillies have had no blooms. Turns out, they did have blooms. I just couldn't see them through the weeds. My bad...

For awhile, the faithful & loyal steeds hung out with me. Then they decided to take a break. I think it's funny that Sonny is laying in front of the door like a dog!

My rose bushes were out of control. They were humongous. And I needed to trim them back. Well, uhm, that's easier said than done...

All I have are these tree trimming things. Like huge scissors. And I had 2 big rose bushes to cut. The motion of opening & closing those things so many times made my arms hurt & shake. It's hard to explain, but the rose bushes had so many branches coming out & then lots of little branches off of those. Some of them were as big as a limb on a tree. And this is what I cut off of the one above.

And this is the after pic. I scalped it. I can't help it. It was impossible (for little ole impatient me) to do it any different. Now you may be asking, "are you even supposed to trim rose bushes this time of year?" Don't know, don't care. I can buy new ones if these die. I couldn't handle looking at them anymore. This one had grown over into the sidewalk!

The thing in the middle here is the scalped rose bush out front. It was growing into the porch. I told you they were out.of.control. Now, I could lie & tell you the wind was blowing so much it just blew the branches into my clippers. But that would be wrong...

Another great thing about trimming rose bushes is that now I look like a cutter. I've got scratches & scrapes all over my arms. Next step, mulch. But I have no clue when I can fit that in... Please pray for my rose bushes. They need all the help they can get.