Spring

We celebrated spring a few days early.  We had our first outside campfire. We ignored the few raindrops and stayed outside until almost 9:30pm!

 

Yes, you might say we are rushing it a little bit. We don't care.

I love the fire, but I must also take a moment to appreciate and thank the trees. The striations of the grains are beautiful.

Bucket Trucket

The bucket truck is back. 
 

We had a weekend full of pine needles in our gloves and sawdust in our boots.  Friday afternoon, after finishing trimming for the day Walt Kowalski and I ran to the home improvement store.  We were standing in line at the check out and I pulled a handful of pine mulch out of my pocket.  He in turn pulled a handful of pine mulch out of his pocket. 

We laughed.

The associate running the register just looked at us over her glasses.
 
The weather Friday was perfect.  Cool, but not cold, and sunny. It got increasingly cloudy all day with an approaching storm front. The rain eventually came overnight.
 
Walt Kowalski flexing his bucket skills. It took him a few minutes to get his "bucket legs."
 

 
The bucket truck helps, but the driveway and wires really limit the size of the bucket truck we can use. 
 

 
The ground was too squishy from the snow and rain, otherwise Walt Kowalski would have driven the truck up into the yard.
 
Instead, we attacked one of the pines across the driveway.
 

 
Walt Kowalski would cut a branch and we would watch it fall.  If it went on the road, I would run down the road and drag it out of traffic.  We only *almost* hit one truck.  It was ok.  It was just the Mayor of the neighborhood.  And he was driving WAY too fast, anyway. Of course, that brought him over on his scooter to "inspect" our work.  We joked he should have had a clipboard with him like and official inspector.
 
Walt Kowalski has a plan to take down the totem pole that is left.

 

 

 

Saturday brought rain showers in the morning.  But it also brought help.  Chain Saw Johnny.  They were prepared with their rain slickers.  heck, we go to the amusement park in the rain and golfing in the rain, why not trim a few trees in the rain. 

 

Just call them the Pancho Villa boys. Poncho Villa, that is. 

 

 

 

All of the trees on our to cut list are a concern because of their height and age.  Mostly a concern if they fall on the house in a storm.  This was the tall pine you can see on the left in the first photo. We didn't want to just cut it at the bottom and drop it because it would have hit the house.  Walt Kowalski first placed his extension ladder as far up as he could reach, roped off the tree, then cut up as far as his pole saw could reach.  Chain Saw Johnny and I were the leverage on the rope.

 

 
It fell without a hitch.  Sunday brought more tree trimming, the Gray Hoodie boys, and more mud.  The washing machine is going to get a workout from those work clothes.
 
 

 
This is only half of the burn pile. 
 

 
Saturday I struggled all day to keep the fire going.  Everything was wet and fresh pine is hard to burn without a hot fire.  The drizzle didn't help the situation.  I will try again next Saturday.
 
Chain Saw Johnny even took a ride in the bucket truck.   

For the man who is hesitant of heights, he was having fun.  I said being in the bucket felt like riding the paratroopers at the amusement park.  Same metal latches and chains. 
 
If you are wondering 'What is the rush?"  Why does it seem like you're rushing the spring season working in the rain and cold? There is a rush for two reasons.

Reason #1. The trees are just coming out of hibernation.  No leaves yet.
Reason #2. The trees are too close to my garden.  (Directly above!) My flowers are *just* starting to wake up in the garden.  If we wait any longer, the flowers will be up and we won't be able to work. Walt Kowalski wanted to get the trees cut before he had to be cautious of where they were stepping. 
 
Thank you. I appreciated that.
 
 

Randoms

Just a couple of random things for you today.  It has been a quiet week, but there are lots of things planned for this weekend.   


Random1

I texted Walt Kowalski the other day.  Part of the text to him said "Are we one big happy family now?" Except instead of big I typed bug.

His response: 
Yes, one bug family 🐛🐜🐜🐞🐌🐚

He included the pictures of the bugs, too.


Random2

We have signs everywhere at work.

Glasses must be worn.
Look for forklifts.
Do not run. (really, I've never seen anybody run here.)
Keep door closed.
Keep door open.
Look up.
Look down.
Look left, look right, look left again.
Safety never sleeps.
Use blinking lights when on dock.
Push button to exit.
Swipe to enter.

I think we need this one:

Random3

I saw this little sign near a person's desk the other day:

There is no problem we cannot ignore, confront, plot again, drown in chocolate sauce, or run over with our car.

I might have to recreate that for my fridge.

Home Show

Walt Kowalski and I spent Friday evening at the Home Show. We don't often go into the "big" city.  We generally stick to our little city at home. 

The tunnel looks good.  Everybody still slows down.  Not much traffic on our side going into the city.  All the traffic was backed up waiting to go home after work.  There was traffic waiting to get off of the parkway to go to the ice arena.  Dancing ice princesses were also in town. 

 
I joked with Walt Kowalski that he wasn't allowed to buy a hot tub at the Home Show.  Guess who was the first to look at them?  Guilty, it was me.  They are nice.  Some are HUGE! I would love to have been there to watch them bring some of these things inside the building.

 
We strolled through everything.  Outdoor section, kitchen and bathroom section, all the replacement windows.  So many great ideas, so little time.  In the housewares section they had lots of infomercial appliances.  Knives, pots and pans, mops, brooms, a very cool hand pump whisk (thought about it, but didn't buy it), a steam iron that the vendor was determined to sell me. 

We also "tested" or rather sampled all of the wineries.  The sample cups were smaller than a shot glass, more like a tablespoon. But after 2 or 3 of them, my face and neck were flushed.  I though a frozen slush sample might have helped cool me off, but instead it gave me instant brain freeze.   Walt Kowalski just knew it was coming from the moment I took a sip and before he could say anything, I was holding my head saying "ow."  All he can do is laugh. 

 
They had several playhouse/shed structures.  This one even had a second floor loft.  It was a great view of the show. those are metal palm trees you can see.  the enclosed porch below was very nice.  Same with all of the new patio furniture.  Which reminds me I want to wire brush and paint ours this year. 

There were several large model train displays, too.  This little sign just cracked us up. The "We're #1" part was flashing. 

 
Walt Kowalski noted "We live by the train tracks and see the trains everyday. You'd think we have enough trains in our lives.  Yet we come here and look at the trains."

 
My big purchase was some more new blubs for the garden.  I can't wait to start planting. 

Travel Day

My schedule said "Go North" today. 

Last week we were warned about a terrible snowstorm coming.  It rained and rained and rained. And rained.  Dud of a storm. The well is full, thanks.

Yesterday the weather was the hot topic again.  Weather. Weather. Weather.  Every conversation started with the weather. What is it doing out there?  What is it going to do? Has it started yet? Should we leave early?

If you're like me, you listen, but after the last few dud storms, you listen with only one ear.  Knowing my schedule said "Go North," I decided to play it safe and warn my bosses (I have multiple) the day before the storm was to arrive. 

Two of my bosses are located down south.  Not deep south. But south enough that if they get a 1/2 inch of snow, the entire town is closed.

I warned them "Hey, there is a storm coming.  It might be a dud or it might not be.  If it's questionable in the morning, I'm not going North." "Don't wait!!! Reschedule now!!!"

Ok. Next week it is. I can tell they are not from this area to be so worried about weather. The snow was *supposed* to start early and keep snowing. As for now, it's just raining. Still.

Walt Kowalski called me on the way home and said "The iceberg at the end of the driveway has cracked.  I don't know if you're going to get in.  GO SLOW!"

He wasn't kidding.

 
After the rains, when Walt Kowalski came home in Big Red the iceberg collapsed. Little Red was not going to make it into the driveway. The pile of ice "rocks" was waist deep. We were running out of places to put it. 

That's 10 inches thick of ice. He picked and picked and picked.  He made *just* enough room for Little Red to make it in.  I helped pick and move the ice.  We got it clear.  Again.

But still no slow.  Just a cold, wet rain. It's going to be a dud of a storm again.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
snore snore snore
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

5 hours later


No dud.

You can just barely see where Big Red was parked and it is still coming down. 
 

Glad I didn't go North. (Funny, North didn't get the snow!)

Rain (updated)

It's 7am and it is raining inside the building today.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

I suppose this is *technically* an improvement over the flood in my previous office.  

Update:
8:15am

Someone solved the rain in the building problem:

Skyscraper

I pass this building every time I go into town.

 

 

 

 

There is something about this building that is intriguing to me.  Maybe it's the curve of the building.  Maybe it's because it's not curved in the center.  Maybe because it's old.  (Heck, I don't know if it's old or just looks old!)

There are so many buildings, signs, houses, and things I see during my day that I want to take pictures of and share with you.  I need to take the time to bring my camera, pull over to the side of the road, and take some pictures.

Passerbyer: "Honey, look at that crazy lady who stopped her car along side of the road to take a picture of the street sign."

Yeah, that will be me.

Also, blah. 

It's blah.  I'm blah.  Everything feels blah right now.  I'm ready for spring. I'm certain everybody is.  I saw a post yesterday of a lady in her summer beach hat attempting to make spring come faster by working in her garden.  She was surrounded by a foot a snow. 

I know the feeling.  Everyday Walt Kowalski looks out the window.  He's making plans, too.  It's coming.  Just not fast enough to suit us.