Logging

Not to be confused with blogging.

Saturday's tree cutting was slow.  More planning was required.  The tree is tall.  The wind was windy.  Every time Walt Kowalski climbed the ladder with the saw the wind kicked up again.  He was swaying with the tree.


It was a beautiful day. Look how blue.

 
Walt Kowalski trimmed the smaller branches and let them fall.  But the larger branches required planning.

 
After a few misplaced drops and near misses, a controlled fall was the plan. They would tie off the branch, using the tree and phone pole as pulleys to lighten the weight.

 
The Walt Kowalski would make the cut (hoping his saw didn't get pinched between the branches by the weight of the tree.)

Then it would be slowly and carefully lowered to the ground.

 

 

The other reason for lowering was to not smoosh the boxwood shrub directly beneath.  Smooshing of shrubs has occurred recently in the past.  I was not pleased.  Walt Kowalski received the laser beam eyes from me.  He knew he'd be going to the shrub store.

Smoosh is a technical term.

Rockin' and Rollin'

Saturday was a day of tree cutting, raking and burning.  (I'll have more photos of that later.)

Sunday was a clean-up day. It didn't start that way, but it turned into that. Around the yard we have unfinished things and things we don't know how we want to finish and things we don't know what to do with and remainders of things. That happens with ongoing projects.

We used to have a log pile by the upper patio. We burned up all of the logs, moved the metal log rack up to the patio, and filled it full of outside wood. Yet, the stones from the old  pile remained. 

I have some plants coming up near the path to the shed. They blend in and I didn't want them to be stepped on if you're cutting the corner to go up to the shed.  So I put little sticks around them as a barrier.  It helped, but still blended in. There is also a hole in the ground where I removed a lily plant last year. The hole was never filled in and was an ankle twister in the dark. 

Yup, done it myself several times.  Still never fixed the hole. 

 
So Walt Kowalski and I started thinking, instead of filling in the hole, why not dig it out some more and move these rocks over here.

 
It would create more wall, protect the flowers, and use the rocks from the wood pile.

 
I had to dig out more than a bit, but it finished the wall nicely.  AND we cleaned up some random rocks.

 

Saturday while I was burning, I was also raking leaves and sticks out of the lower garden.  I moved most of the hostas out of this garden two years ago, but it is still full of Lily of the Valley.  Once that starts to come up, you can't even step foot in the garden without stepping on a flower. 

 

This garden was also full of large rocks. 30 years ago it looked nice, but now it is overgrown.  Our long term goal was to remove the large rocks and transplant the flowers.  Long. Term. Goal.

 

I forgot that part. 

 

As I was raking, I started removing the rocks.  It was easier to rake without the rocks in the way. The first few weren't as large as I thought.  I could remove them by hand without even a shovel to lift them. Walt Kowalski was carrying them up the hill to the shed.  He was using them to create a "patio" stepping area at the shed entrance to reduce the mud. 

 

This will be easy after all! (How many times have I said this?)

 

Ha!

 

What I couldn't see was that the pachysandra had grown over and was covering the especially large rocks. 

 

No, these can't even be called rocks.  These are boulders.  They are foundation stones used for building a foundation for a house. 

 

It took a shovel AND Walt Kowalski and I to release them from the ground.   Instead of carrying them, we put them in the wheelbarrow to take them to the top of the hill.  (Why didn't we want them at the bottom of the hill?!?)

 

After the first trip up with the wheelbarrow, Walt Kowalski returned covered in sweat and out of breath.  This method was not going to work. The rocks were getting heavier and the hill was getting steeper.

 

We needed a better method.  Let's try the refrigerator cart.  Walt Kowalski pulled.  I pushed.  Walt Kowalski pulled.  I pushed.  Walt Kowalski pulled.  I pushed.  20 trips later we got all of the rocks up the hill. 

 

On the first trip up the hill, I said "You know, that rock is a good height for me to step on then step in the shed."

 

Instead of a patio area, we created steps! Now I can easily step into the shed. It was a big step up for Walt Kowalski, too. We were planning to buy wooden steps from the home improvement store, but had just never got around to it. 

What an accomplishment!  Next time we're just buying steps.

Torches, solar lights, patio furniture, everything came out of the shed for spring.

From the upper patio you can see the BIG burn area and our needs-to-be-split log pile.  After the boulder endeavor, splitting wood will have to wait until another day. 

That area is next on the cleanup list.

After the Storm

All fared well at the Cat Ranch.  It was a mighty storm. We were on our way home and Walt Kowalski said "Those clouds look green. That is a bit concerning. Green clouds are never good."

He had reason to be concerned. Welcome to spring! (Notice how GREEN everything is today! More on this later.)

As we were sitting eating dinner, I said to Walt Kowalski, 'Did I leave the light on outside?  There is something shining in the window.' 

Nope, it was the sun breaking through the clouds after the storm.

Clear drops, blurry sky.

Clear sky, blurry drops.  It's your artsy-fartsy for the day. 

So about the theory that the grass looks greener after the first thunderstorm. I've always noticed it and though "Well all of the plants got a good drink and woke up from winter sleep." Maybe. 

Here's a "theory" I found:

During a thunderstorm, every time there is a bolt of lightning the electrical energy is able to break the strong nitrogen bonds. The nitrogen then quickly attaches to oxygen, forming nitrogen dioxide. Nitrogen dioxide dissolves easily in water, which creates nitric acid, which then easily dissolves to create our magic ingredient, NITRATES. The nitrates fall to the ground in the raindrops that seep into your soil and help your grass turn green.

There is some debate as to how much the electricity in lightning affects the greening of the grass. Some people will say that not enough nitrates are formed to affect the green and the nitrates are blown many miles away. Thus, the bright green is an illusion that is created from the wet grass sparkling in the sun’s rays. However, it sure seems that things really green up after a lightning storm, more than after a rainstorm without lightning.

Either way, it is good to have the green grass back.

Sunrise

I have driving skills.  I have photography skills.  I need to work on my photography while driving skills. I'm better when Walt Kowalski is driving. Then again, I'd better not work on that skill.

 

The sunrise before the storm was lovely. The photos don't do it justice. I should have been taking photos of the terrible driving. Wow. 

Spring!

It is spring! The little bird is back looking in the window.  Pepper is very interested.



 

 
Remember these People?  I loved playing with my Little People.  I had the barn, the airport, the house, the camper, the hospital.  I also had weebles and a tree house.  The tree house was a different family.  Mom, dad, girl, boy.  They were smaller, but they liked when the Little People visited.  the tree house had an elevator.

I found this cowboy outside when I was raking leaves.

 
Walt Kowalski took a window-maker branch off of the oak tree above the patio.  Whenever we sit and enjoy the sunsets or the campfires we look up at this branch.  Every few months a few more large, dead sticks appear on the ground and on the branch above us.  It was worrisome.

 
You can see Walt Kowalski's saw in the Y of the tree. He's back there on a ladder and the branch fought him until the very end.  It cut nicely, but bounced and fell only inches from his ladder. 

I gave him the laser beam eyes after the branch fell.  Neither of us were expecting that. 

Weekend Updates

Pie

The photo speaks for itself.  It was delicious.  I had berries left over from Palm Sunday. Yes, I even made little flowers for the top instead of lattice.  You know me, it's about presentation.

Fridge

Out free outside refrigeration ended (thanks goodness!).  Drinks were no longer cold-cold.  Some days they were not even cold.  We were using a cooler and making ice and buying ice, but with the temperature over 70 degrees, that was a process. 

We struggled without a spare fridge long enough.  It wasn't he cheapest, which was tiny.  it was the next size up.  It was also marked "Take Home Today!!!!" Walt Kowalski liked that idea.  No waiting for delivery. 

Now drinks and vegetables are cold-cold-cold.  Ahhhh. 


Barrels

What a job! I worked at these barrels for three days.  The ground moved and the rocks moved and the plants grew MAJOR roots.  Shovels and vice grips and swearing were required. 

The worst part is that several of the barrels were curved on the bottom.  It was nice when we planted because it held in the dirt.  But it also held in the dirt and plants when we tried to remove them!

Lesson learned.  When we reuse the barrels, I'll cut off the curvy bottom part before planting.

Doesn't it look nice! Just in time, too.  The hostas and ferns were just starting to appear.

Plans

We've got plans this weekend.  We always have plans.  Our plan fort his weekend:

"Get stuff done."

It's a good plan.

I started on my plans last night. It was a beautiful evening.

This is the hosta garden on the side of the house. It needs some attention. 

When we planted/created/designed this garden Walt Kowalski brought home several large 55 gallon water barrels like this:

He cut the top and bottom off and then cut each barrel into 3 or 4 sections. I dug holes to fit the barrels, put the barrels in the holes, filled the holes with good dirt, then planted hostas inside the barrels.  After it was all planted, we filled in around the barrels with stones.  Here's an old photo of the progress

The method worked.  The hostas had time to establish and grow (and truthfully they could be divided already!)

Hey, there is Old Blue in the photo!

Now the ground has settled and the barrels are sticking out too much, they really aren't needed any more, and we want to use them in another area.  By the middle of summer, the foliage from the hostas grows so much that you can't just barely see the barrels sticking up.  But until that happens, you can see them and I'm ready to pull the barrels out.

That is one of my projects this weekend.  The ground has finally thawed and the barrels are workable.  But it's not an easy job.  The rocks have worked their way in and around and it takes a little (LOTTA) effort to get the barrels out. 

It is the perfect time to do this, too.  The hostas are just starting to appear out of their winter sleep.