A Relaxing Sunday Afternoon??

This past Sunday, Ryan and I did the usual...find a project around the house. This particular Sunday we found separate projects. He decided to try out his birthday present from me (a Porter Cable 7424 buffer for his car).
I decided to sneak into the backyard with the bow saw and take the Bradford pear tree into my own hands. The shade from the tree keeps the grass underneath from growing. Now, it is the backyard, so part of me doesn't care what it looks like. The other part of me secretly curses that shade under my breath after we've had rain and Shelby comes in the house with mud on her paws.

Here's one last picture of some type of flower that grows on the fence above the retaining wall. Does anybody know what it is? It is pretty for about 3 weeks each year, the rest of the time it looks like messy vines that I just want to rip down.