Declutter report: blackberries?

Well, this past weekend was supposed to be about decluttering the four-plus Christmas bins.  I was going to finally take down the outdoor lights, and had the goal of paring down to TWO bins of holiday stuff.

But Sweetie wanted to get to the outdoor chores.  And the weather had me convinced that changing priorities was not the disaster my stick-to-the-decluttering-plan brain kept telling me it was.  Temperatures in the high 50's, sunny skies (in rainy Oregon? in the winter?)--why not go outside for hours and hours?

Weekend declutter results:  one pickup-truck-bed's-worth of vegetative matter.

I didn't take any "before" pictures because I didn't start this project thinking that I was going to be outdoors all weekend.  It sort of crept up on me: one thing led to another.  And another.  And another.

Really, it all started because the local mulch providers were temporarily out of mulch.  So Sweetie needed a different outdoor focus.  The tally:

• pruned the butterfly bush (and the anonymous bush behind it that you couldn't even see before)
• removed a dead bush from next to the butterfly bush
• pruned the cherry tree
• weeded flower beds in preparation for mulch (next weekend)
• dug out five areas of blackberry infestation (really, for all you non-Pacific-Northwest dwellers: they are noxious, invasive plants)
• limbed up the former Christmas tree in one corner and the Mugu Pine in the other corner, giving more access to light for the plants nearby, saving the fence from being further assaulted by tree growth, and discovering that the waterfall to the pond was really not going to be restored.  Ever.
• moved the pile of rocks (which were there to help beautify the pond waterfall, when/if ever it got fixed) off the lawn and up around the pond area
• pulled out a totally overgrown flower bed, discovering a hydrangea and several other lovely flowering plants that I have high hopes for this spring

Omg, it's so much prettier than it was before!  Really, the New Year's Resolution to "have less stuff" still applies to this: have fewer weeds and more beauty in my front yard.