Clean up: south yard, mulching second bed

Today, we got the second area in the south yard mulched with wood chips. It’s not as long as the first one done, so it was faster.

It was also faster because I changed equipment.

Among the things that disappeared from here before we moved in were things like shovels and spades – the stuff that didn’t get taken are almost all broken in some way. Yesterday, we made do with snow shovels to load up the wheel barrows. It was a pain in the butt, but they did the job.

Today, I dug out a spade I’d found last year. It’s broken, of course, but just the handle on the top. I was able to use the sleeve of my sweatshirt to protect my hand while using it, and things went much easier.

Here is how the bed looked before.

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This is the largest of my mother’s white lilacs, at the West end of the bed, and where I cleaned out a big pile of horse droppings in between all those stems. I’ve never been able to figure out how that happened. I just can’t see a horse backing its hind end right into the bush and taking a dump. :-D

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This is where we had cleared out the remains of some fencing that had been used as a trellis for vines. I’m guessing this was done before my mother discovered that Virginia creeper is so invasive! Hopefully, the mulch will prevent it from growing back.

The dirt patch by the tire around the tree is a favourite place for the outside cats to roll around. :-D

Here is how it looks now.

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Alas, the cats have lost their rolling spot. ;-)

A lot of the wood chips were used for this, but there is more left than I expected.

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I’m debating whether to use it on a nearby flower bed, or just spread it all out, right where it is.

For the amount that’s there, I’m leaning towards spreading it out where it is.

While doing my rounds this morning, I took some pictures at the logs from the two maples that were taken down. Check this out.

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You can see how the ant-damaged, rotten core is slightly pushed in. I was curious to see just how loose it was.

The answer is:

Completely.

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There were a couple of pieces like this, where I could pull the core right out!

Have I mentioned what a relief it is to finally have these trees down?

The Re-Farmer

Clean up: south yard, mulching first bed

Today we were able to head out and do some more aggressive yard work, and I am happy as a clam!

I decided to start on an area in the South yard that we had already started to mulch with leaves in the fall.

Here are the before pictures.

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This is the bed that runs between the people gate and the vehicle gate.

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I even considered mulching all the way to the fence, as it’s difficult to mow in there, but decided against it for now.

My mother planted some bright yellow flowers in here that self-seed. They did rather well last year, but I was pulling a lot of Virginia creeper out of it, near the Chinese elm. Also, being self seeding, the flowers are sort of spreading in an uncontrolled way.

Here is what it looks like now.

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On this end, my mother’s yellow flowers did rather poorly. The Korean lilac shaded it too much, blocking both sun and what little rain we had. It was being taken over by crab grass.

I’m pretty sure that maple is self seeded.

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I could see the flowers were already starting to come up, and I think they will find their way through the mulch. If they can do that, however, the Virginia creeper will do so, just as enthusiastically. With the mulch in place, they should be easier to pull up.

We put a big dent in the pile of wood chips in the process! This was before…

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This is what it looks like now.

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The next area I plan to use these on is on the other side of the sidewalk, between another Chinese elm and the willow that got trimmed. There are white lilacs there that I’d cleaned up around and pruned last year; while there is some kind of greenery growing near the base of the Chinese elm, there were no other flowers or anything. We should be able to finish off the pile of chips in that area. Anything left on the ground where the pile is now will be raked out as mulch, right where it is.

I also got an after picture of the maples removed from overhanging the roof. This is the before photo I had posted previously…

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This is what it looks like, now.

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That one tree in there that’s leaning waaayyyy over is just funny!

I’m hoping to get that junk around that old shed hauled out of the yard this summer. First, though, we need to get the straw bale used up. It’s rather in the way, where it is now.

I’m so happy to be able to get out and start on all this again! :-D

The Re-Farmer

Tree work done!

Photo heavy post ahead. :-D

It’s about 6 months later than we meant to have it done, but done it is! The trees are now clear from the power lines and the roof.

I was really, really excited to see the chipper they brought in.

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Clean Up: grape vines – a discovery

It was a pleasant evening tonight, and I decided to take a walk around the yard, to enjoy the longer daylight.

I go distracted and ended up clearing and trellising the grape vine. Well. A temporary trellis, as least.

I also made a discovery.

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Looking around

We had a very foggy morning today, and there was still fog when I went out to do my rounds. I decided to see if I could get some good pictures from behind the barn, and ended up checking things out further. I have not actually gone done this way, this far, since we moved here, so much of what I was seeing was new to me.

The first thing I stopped to check out was some fencing around trees. There used to be a pig pen and a manure pile in the area. I can see that the fencing went around the trees, but I am unsure of why. It was done long ago, and much of it has fallen.

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Back to work (and update)

Today, I finally went through the yard to pick up the winter’s fallen branches.

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I got three wheel barrows full. One of them was just branches from under the willow tree in the south yard. Another was almost entirely from the ancient willow in the maple grove.

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Off the to-do list

So this has been a productive day!  Most of my to-do list for outside is now complete.  The last thing is to do a dump run, which will be taken care of soon.

Beep Beep made things a little more difficult. :-D  As I was getting my supplies out of the sun room, I paused to respond to a message on my phone.

Beep Beep climbed me like a tree!

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She did it again, while I was working in the garage, too.

What a girl! LOL

The first thing on my list was to use some metal rods I found while cleaning up at the garage recently, to set up markers at our driveway.

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I don’t know how well they will hold out over the winter.  We shall see.  The main thing is, once the ditches are filled with snow, we’ll be able to see the outer extremes of the driveway.  One of them has some reflective tape on it.  I’ll have to remember to pick up more.  There are a few places where we want to add reflective tape.

Once that was done, I reclaimed our wheelbarrow from the junk pile; an old, cracked rain barrel is now being used to hold things like broke glass and other small things that we didn’t want to just throw on the pile.  Then I took the plastic I’d used to put water in an old bathtub for the cows to cover the whole thing (and added the bathtub to the pile, too).  I tossed some stuff to weigh down the plastic, but I rather doubt it will stay.  We shall see.

The next thing I wanted to do was cover the post pounder.  First, however, I wanted to try pumping up the tires, to see if I could move it.  In order to access the compressor, however, I had to finish cleaning up and putting away stuff we had to clear so we could rescue Doom Guy.

Beep Beep “helped” by jumping up onto the counter, then onto me!

I found a little hand broom and swept off the counter, then had to figure out how to put the shelves, back, without a second person.  In the end, I took the drawers out of the top one, to lighten it.

This is why it was so heavy.

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The one drawer with the long bolts probably weighed about 15 pounds, all on its own… and it got stuck.  I managed to get it out, though, which made moving that shelf easy enough.

Then I went to clean off the second shelf before trying to remove the drawers.

I don’t know how I failed to notice this, when we first took it off.  Probably because we were too distracted by the need to free Doom Guy from behind the counter.

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Yeah.  That’s shedded snake skin.

With this shelf, I wasn’t able to take any of the drawers out, but it was light enough I could just pick it up and put it on top of the other one.

Then I set up the compressor which, thankfully, has a hose long enough to reach both tires on the post pounder.

The first one, much to my surprise, pumped up rather well, and seems to be holding air.

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Cool!  Now, if the other one would hold air, it might be possible to move the post pounder into a shed or something.

What a hoot.

It pumped up, all right, but as soon as I turned the air off, it quickly deflated.  I could even feel a breeze on my hand!

From this.

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A big ole crack in the tire!

Ah, well.  It was worth a shot.

I had noticed a tarp in the side of the garage my mother’s car is stored in and was happy to confirm it was big enough to cover the whole thing.

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I don’t know what was used to fasten the old tarp – if anything – but I’m hoping that this one will stay.  Between the bale twin at the top (which is what had been tied around the folded up tarp, and the zip ties, it’s pretty secure.  I just wish I didn’t have to poke little holes into the tarp to thread the zip ties through.

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It should hold for a while, though.  It would take some pretty major winds to tear it off, at this point.

That done, I moved the toilet “art”.  I decided to leave it near the outhouse for now.  I think I really will put dirt in it and plant flowers next year.  Just for a joke!

Then I took the oil drum that was along the garage and set it up as a temporary burn barrel.

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Here it is, next to the remains of the old one.  It’s not in very good shape, but until we can chisel off the top of the other barrel we found by a collapsing log building, it will do.  I didn’t have to make drainage holes in the bottom.  It already had holes.

And now it’s time to move on to the other things on the to-do list. :-)

The Re-Farmer

Clean Up: spruce grove perimeter, south side

It was such a beautiful day today – we hit 8C today – I couldn’t resist!  I started working on the spruce grove perimeter again.  With the manual labour, the cooler temperatures are just perfect.

Rather than start were I left off last time, I started near the outhouse and garage.  I want to be able to go into the area with my wheelbarrow and tools from here, rather than having to go all the way around where I’d already cleared.  Also, there was a pile of junk at the corner of the garage I wanted to clear out.

It turned out to be a much bigger job than I expected!

In fact, I’ll be splitting this up into three posts to cover it all – including when I had to stop and get one of my daughters to help me get out a trapped kitten!

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Not sure how to fix this…

While out and about this morning, the kittens were out in full force.  Including Doom Guy, who can’t seem to figure out that, if he wants me to pick him up, he has to be in FRONT of me, not behind…

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I’m going to have little puncture marks, all up the back of my legs, thanks to him. :-D

Yesterday, I was able to clean up the platform to the clothes line.  The line itself needs a bit of maintenance before we can use it.  A bit more, if we want to set up three lines again, instead of the one that’s left now.

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Whoever rebuilt this platform did a good job of it.

The original platform doubled as a dog house.  On the side, where the mock orange is growing now, there was an opening, and we kept it filled with straw for the dogs.  I even remember being able to crawl into it, myself, for some canine snuggles!

The cats can squeeze under the stairs.  At least, the smaller ones, can.  I don’t think Rolando Moon could fit through there.  Nor the skunk.

Of the stuff that was on the platform, I’ve only kept the bin, as a potential shelter for the cats in the winter, and a piece of eaves trough that I am wanting to re-purpose, but doens’t fit anywhere else right now.

I noticed, however, that there is stuff underneath, so I used my phone’s camera to see what it is.

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???

Why is any of that, there?

Who thought it was a good idea to shove it under there?

The only way for any of this to be there is by pushing it through the opening under the step.

How am I supposed to clean that up?

The Re-Farmer