DIY shrub pruning

You may have noticed that the shrubs on the north side of my house have been threatening to swallow it all year. Someone in This Old House magazine told me that the best way to prune overgrown shrubs is to trim a third of the branches now, a third next year, and a third the following year. That way, you'll get some green growing on the inside of the bush, and don't end up with a skeleton of bare branches. It took me two weekends to get the job done. I really went to town. I climbed on up inside those bushes like a tomboy. I was pretty proud. You can walk into the garage without ducking now.

I found lots of treasures in the bushes, too. An arrow (like for a bow and arrow), a chunk of gutter, nails and junk, a half eaten sandwich, and--you're lucky I spared you the picture--a dead animal. I'm pretty sure it had been dead for quite some time, because it looked like an empty fur coat. I'm also pretty sure it was a pet, because it it was blonde. Maybe like a cat or a dog. ick. The worst part? I couldn't bear to touch it, and it was tucked way under lots of tangly branches, so I couldn't really even reach it. So I covered it up with pine needles and left it there.