Trimming Troubles

Last week, I decided to trim my grandmother's rose bush in the front of her house.  If you'll notice, the monstrosity above is no normal bush.  Its tallest tendrils were about the height of the roof.  I trimmed it down last year to about the height of the white wall behind it, but it took on a life of its own since then (also, it doesn't help that her gardeners don't do anything to help me).  Anyway, I got there at about 10:45 a.m., and I started trimming away the longest branches first.  Those actually are the easiest to deal with since they can easily be removed.  The harder ones by far are the ones that become twisted and tangled with each other or with the wall because I have to pull hard to get them free, and anything can happen when they come loose.  In other words, thorns become a huge threat (as if they aren't already enough of a threat).

In the end, I found that I really underestimated how much work was necessary to get the bush into a manageable form.  I finished cleaning up at around 4 p.m., and I was exhausted.  It probably wouldn't have been so bad if I didn't have to trim down the branches so they'd fit in the trash can.  That probably added twice as much work for me.  Regardless, I felt like I put in a hard day's work, and that felt good.  What didn't feel good were the cuts and splinters from the thorns.