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Thursday night I came home to this at the side of my house
The willow is about 2" out of the shot - on the right hand side.
Talented driver - I am proud to be able to get the Explorer in there :)
Friday afternoon, the willow was but a memory.
That is a large shrub pot for size comparison.
I've been looking at the new flower bed beside the driveway thinking it was missing something. I finally figured out what it was, the timbers had no definition and kind of melted into the rock mulch. Then I realized that the timbers to the other flower beds around the house were stained brown, so it was time to do the same with the new timbers. Some was stained last Friday evening (7/6/17) with the leftovers from the previous projects. I had to get more stain and then I finished it up today - I'm really pleased with the added depth and definition the dark color provides. Of course, then I had to re-stain the timbers to the flower beds I put in a couple of years ago so they would all match.
I power washed the back porch and ramp then sprayed it with a eucalyptus mixture to kill mold and algae. Then with some scrubbing and a rinse, it looks much better. No pics, but it was green and now is the natural wood color again.
I still had some pea gravel left at the base of the willow tree that I needed to move for when the tree is taken down. I decided that it needed to go on the side of the house closest - under where the pellet stove exhuasts run. Weeds have finally started getting a foothold in the sandy soil over there and combustible materials should not be below the exhausts as a safety precaution. So I weeded and hoed and raked in prep. I dug a footing for landscape timbers to hold in the weed barrier and stone. But before putting the timbers in, I realized that out of the 3 timbers I have left, only two match. Great! that is all I need. But, before I got them set up, I realized those two timbers don't match the timbers in the front portion of the house, so those are on hold. However, I did get the rest of the pea gravel on the weed barrier (not enough - naturally). I'll get back to that project sooner or later, my main goal was accomplished so I called it a night at 6:15.
Tomorrow I mow then get to pick from a list of things that need doing. I did power wash the back side of the house at the same time as I did the porch/ramp, so I should scrape the peeling paint and then get some new paint in. We'll see . . .
Last weekend just did the chores that needed to be done; mow, laundry, dump etc. I also mowed the neighbor's front yard as his wife has been sick so he hasn't had time to take care of the yard. The grass had gotten quite high (some 4-5' high) and I had a heck of a time getting it beat down to a reasonable level using 3 passes for most of it. I exercised the old mower and used up the tank of gas that has been sitting in it since I got it home from the repair shop. Toward the back I started getting into wet areas and the mower kept stalling so I called it good. There were some pretty flowers though, so the birds and insects should be happy with it. The yellow flower spike is Common Mullein and there seem to be several uses for every part of the plant. One plant was shoulder height and another just slightly shorter.
I also moved the one ton of pellets left in the yard to the other side of the tree in preparation for future work in that area. But Sunday, Sunday my accomplishments were going to the grocery store and doing a load of laundry. The rest of the time I read and napped - several times :D
It has been 1 year since Rita joined Fuzzy, Birdie and I; I picked her up on 4th of July weekend of 2016. She has fit in well. Although Fuzzy and she aren't best buds, there isn't any annimosity and they are polite and pleasant to each other. She is my desk and bed cat - making sure I can't see the computer screen and laying between my arm pit and hip at night. She has had new experience such as going outside, which it was evident she had never been allowed to do before. Heck, until November or so of last year, she didn't even get near the door and looked indifferently on as Fuzzy went in and out.
As you can tell from the blurry pictures, when I am outside she is always twining around my legs and "talking" to me. When she is not next to me, she is looking for bugs to chase. She definitely has some Siamese in her or may even be purebred Oriental Cat. Doesn't matter to me, I've been enchanted by her and am happy I can give her a good home.
The last couple of weeks there has been work going on in the lot behind my house. Up until now it has been just a paved parking lot for some apartment buildings that are catty-corner to my property. I could tell that they were taking out trees, digging up dirt and rocks, and putting in a foundation, but I was unsure what for.
I am pretty sure it is a garage and once they started building on it this past week, the work has gone quickly. On the 27th they got the outer shell wrapped in typar.
Thursday they installed the roof and Friday the roof was shingled. This morning (Saturday), they put up siding.
And honestly, it will keep car lights from shining into the back windows of my house, so I'm not displeased.
I actually am happy with the color they chose; not too bright nor an intrusive color, and it does fit in well with the trees. During the winter it will stick out, but it will give a bit of cheer on dark, snowy days.
Had a guy come over and look at the willow tree this morning, for taking it out. $1200 and he'll clean it all up. Another couple of hundred to grind the stump down, but we can do that later. Also talked to him about taking down a couple of small trees in front, by my shed so that will add another couple hundred. I'm good with the prices he gave me as I assumed around 3k for the willow alone as it's in a bad place; swamp on one side, house on the other, can't go backwards for the crabapple/gardens and he'll have to have a power guy to take down the line to the front plus watch for the big-azz plum tree that part of the willow is currently leaning on in the front. No crane will be used.
Turns out I worked with his wife for 6 years (she was married to someone else at the time), so we chatted for a while about people we both knew and worked with. They are 2-3 weeks out for taking down the willow, but that is okay as out of the 6 companies I contacted (most, several times), only 2 responded. One said they don't go to my town (20 miles away) when their website clearly states "all of Hillsborough county". Ah well, at least the guy I've got is kind of local - the two most local companies didn't even respond at all.
Then I got started on hauling pea gravel that I've had tarped up for the last couple of years and is left over from several gardening projects. The tarp full is under the willow tree, on the south side of the house. I shoveled it into the 4-wheel cart and hauled it over to the new garden on the other side of the house to use as mulch. Most of the pea stone was shoveled into place although the top portion I was able to dump and rake out.
The area bracketed by unstaked timbers and without gravel will be ready for plants when I get them. Also kind of thinking that those two timbers need to be permanent instead of temporary for holding down the fabric. And yes, there will be a small tree or large shrub (most likely) in the vicinity of the tree rings. Just gotta decide what I want there.
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