Paging the Knights who say "Ni!"

So, we're doing some yard work today. Lots of yard work. Yard work that has been utterly neglected since we've moved in, actually. Yes, I've gone out and mowed the jungle a few times (and now dream of a riding mower the way I once dreamed of George Clooney...) but there were other tasks that we just hadn't gotten to until today. Namely, weed whacking and hedge trimming.

It is the hedge trimming that is killing us. Well, technically, it is killing Hubby, not me. I'm just planting my forlorn little tomato seedlings in the barrel planter that appears to have housed annuals and a thriving ant colony in years past and mowing again, in between wrangling Kiddo with her various levels of "assistance" in the yard work tasks. Hubby is trimming the hedgerows and shrubs with our brand-spankin'-new, gas powered hedge trimmer. It is sucking the life force right out of him, mostly because we have Way the Heck Too Many Dang Evergreen Shrubs and also because no one had tended to them in a Very Long Time.

I'm investigating various options now, as Hubby heads back outside to tackle more shrub pruning. (I dare not point out how lumpy and lopsided the "after" shrubs are, for fear of him either quitting altogether or coming after me with the brand-spankin-new, gas powered hedge trimmer.) Ideally, someone would want to come and dig out the shrubs for free and recycle them to some yard elsewhere. Or, a professional landscaping company would want to charge a ridiculously small amount to rid us of the evergreen nightmare. I'm pondering putting up a post on Freecycle and Craigslist saying "Evergreen shrubs and pachysandra - you dig and they're yours!" I've seen it done for pachysandra before, but not shrubs. Hmmmm.

My last option is finding a bunch of Knights who say "Ni!" as I have a wonderful offering in my yard for them...........................