Another One Bites the Dust!!

Last Monday night, I was busy baking cookies and banana bread, getting ready to go to California for the rest of the week. Wayne was reading to me, keeping me company. I have my head in the cubby where the mixer lives, doing my thing. Wayne is gone when I look up again. Pretty soon he comes in, all excited.

"Hey Honey, know that snag on the back of the lot? It just went down! Come see!"

I went outside with visions of a torn up fence in my mind. A big silver poplar snag has towered over everything else on the northeast back corner of the lot for years. I can't remember the last time it had leaves. It has made a fine lookout for hawks and other birds wanting a clear view of the neighborhood during that time. I thought of dropping it for the wood a few years ago, but the limbs would have taken out the neighbor's nice tight wire fence along the lane strung on straight steel posts, which would have made the fence loose, and the posts, well, less-than-straight.

The wind felled the tree on the diagonal towards the southeast, doing no harm to the fence. The sheep in the field must have scooted out of the way, but by the time we went to look, they were all sampling green leaves from a few small trees that the big one had brought down.

The only hole in the fence was caused when the tree uprooted itself! Wayne and Jim had that fixed in a trice, and the fence is as good as ever it was. [We always have had a rather picturesque back fence! Makes the beautification ladies nuts!]

TIMBER-R-R-R [No More Snag]

That big silver poplar snag that was near the lane on the back corner of the lot??? Most of it isn't there anymore!! You see, its big grabby limbs were hanging right over the new grape vines and berry bushes that Dad & I have been trying to get started. You never know how rotten snags are, or when they'll let go . . . So . . .

A week ago, Dad leaned Uncle Jim's ladder up against the tree trunk and ascended with chainsaw in hand. He hates ladders and trimming trees, because you can fall OR things can fall on you

. . . and he didn't like that idea at all!

He was very cautious (good for him!), looked things over periodically and took the job a little bit at a time.

After he sawed through the trunk as far as the saw would cut, Dad drove in some wooden wedges to spread the cut further.

The tree finally came down about 10 a.m., in time for the Scouts across the street at the church to hear the big CRAA-A-A-A-CK and wonder what the noise was.

I stuck around [from a distance] to see how things were progressing and ended up with some pictures as well. Was hoping to get a picture of the tree falling. . . It is just leaning in the one to the left. Next time the shutter functioned, it was all the way down on the ground . . .

Last of all, here is the triumphal Dad, standing on the carcass! I love it!!!

Here Cum de Mud

Cindy blogged about her beautiful new shed a month or so ago. Well, we are getting a shed too: not cute and decorative like hers, just your basic shed -- But it WILL be here to store things out of the weather!


I AM EXCITED.

It will even have a cement slab, and that is where the Mud part comes in. This is what it looked like when that big old hulking mud truck came underneath our front trees and squeezed itself down the driveway to discharge its load.

The truck managed to maneuver itself back to the little slot where an ancient one-car Model T garage stood years ago.

Wayne & Chris gab while they wait for the mud to come down the chute.
Wayne & the bull-float finish. Love the perspective on the handle.

And, this is what the sky looked like that day, perfect day for finishing a slab, not too hot. . .

Last of all, Wayne specs in a safe place, i.e. not in the slab!!

Our Garden IS Coming!

Last Saturday Wayne got a bee in his bonnet to plant seeds for this year's garden: tomatoes and stuff -- so he got out the little peet-nuggets that swell up when watered and proceeded to plant tomatoes. Since there were 72 holes in the planter tray, he went to his seed bucket and kept adding different things until he had 72 little seeds nestled down to sprout. This is what we found:

Sweet basil sprouts very fast -- first little leaves appeared in a couple of days.

Zinnias were right behind the sweet basil!!

Tomatoes?? -- we found the very first little pointy leaves today, one week after planting.

Sweet peppers ?? -- They are still incognito, although we can see the seeds, but no baby plants yet.

Years ago when Sarah was about 6, she and her daddy were in the back yard planting the garden. He was wearing a straw hat and she was climbing on his back. With that in mind, I couldn't resist when I saw him diligently planting this year's garden!! Sorta fun!!! I love these pictures!!

Also took some shots of our indoor flora.

The big tree is a schfleura, brought home by Dave when he was in Cub Scouts some 30 yrs ago. It was in a paper Coke cup at the time. . . . I love it! Now it goes ceiling to floor. A summer or two ago, I walked in the back door from my wonderful, shady back yard, thinking how much I love trees, when I realized I really DID: I had an indoor tree in the dining room!! This plant has been with us so long, it is just part of the woodwork! The indoor tree idea made me chuckle.

And over the years, one of our all-time favorites are spider plants. I have several and they are all gorgeous.

I love the way plants soften a home. What a blessing they are in life!