Rare shoulder-high dandelions spotted in urban yard

Roni swallowed by the jungle that was my backyard. She's the small white and brown spot in the middle.

I was the very last one on my street to break down and mow my lawn for the first time since winter. Well, the first time ever for me. I don't think there is actually any grass in my lawn, just weeds, but P said "If it's green, you gotta mow it." He asked me if I had a lawn mower at my old house. I said, "Yes. His name is Hector and I can no longer afford his services."  Somehow I don't think that's what P meant. ;)

Anyhow, I ordered a push mower for $99 off the internet, but it hasn't arrived yet, so P brought over his gas mower last weekend and mowed my lawn for me. The weeds in the front were waist high. The weeds in the back, shoulder high in places.

The photo above is before mowing but after I dug up all the dandelions. In the front yard, I needed a hand trowel to get them out. In the back, I needed a full-sized shovel. I kid you not, they were shoulder high.

I'm 5'7" so the dandelions had to be well over 4 feet tall.

I had no idea they could grow so gigantenormous! And there were so many of them!

Giant pile o' dandelions

Now that's it's been mowed, I can actually see the yard. Roni seems really happy too. I don't blame her. Traversing a weed forest in order to pee was probably not fun. Today she spent most of the day sunbathing in the "grass."

There were a few wildflowers that I didn't pull. don't know what they are but they're pretty.

I found a few odds and ends--some old rusty metal pieces, a piece of pressed glass with flowers and a few checkerboard tiles. I wonder if they used to be in the house. They're kind of cool. Not photographed was a piece of glass so old it turned purple and an iron half sphere about an inch in diameter. They accidentally got thrown out. Apparently not everyone can tell the difference between trash and treasure.

Yard treasures.

There are also a few weird concrete leftovers. One has traces of green paint on it and the other has old rusty pieces of metal coming out of it. I wonder what they were? Maybe an old playset?

Concrete with embedded rusty metal pounded flat

What was it?

 Here is the front yard neatly mowed.

And a close up of the flowers my mom planted last month and a few surprises that showed up in the front yard.

Still healty!

I have a rose bush!

And irises! I love irises!

I'll close with a few photos I took from my back deck of the beautiful sunset the other night.