Things actually got chilly last night, and we had a wonderfully cool morning! I was really looking forward to getting some progress in the yard.
Of course, by the time I actually got out there, it had warmed up considerably. :-D It was nice, working in the shade, though.
With the way things have been doing this year, I decided that getting this old wood pile cleared was my one primary goal for the summer. Anything beyond that was gravy.
I may have messed myself up with this particular goal! :-D It’s turning out to be a more challenging job than I expected!
This morning, thanks to cooler temperatures that I was able to take advantage of, I was able to finally get back to cleaning up around the east perimeter of the spruce grove. It was only about an hour and a half before I had to get out of the heat, but I think some good progress was done!
The area I planned to work on stays shaded for a while, which allowed me to work later into the day than otherwise. Dragging the bigger trees I cleared to one of the wood piles outside the yard really showed me what a difference that made! Walking into the sun, the heat hit like a hammer.
After a while, I stopped dragging them out and started a pile in the yard, instead. We’ll drag them out when it’s cooler!
I took before and after pictures from two different views. Here are the before pictures.
The area around the old dog house is where the wood pile was, when there was still a wood burning furnace. It has a pallet fence, and pallets on the ground, all of which are falling over or rotting. My ultimate goal for this year is to get this area cleared.
In the process, I also wanted to clear things a bit further back into the trees towards the outhouse, to access a fallen tree I want to clear out.
There turned out to actually be two of them. After taking pictures, I went to pull out what I thought was a fallen branch, only to find it was actually another dead tree – just a long and skinny one, with about 8-10 feet buried in the tall grass that I didn’t see!
I also cleared some poplars that were growing too close to the outhouse.
The dead tree I wanted access to was also longer than I expected. It extends quite a bit further into the trees, and in the third picture, you can see how its top has landed on other trees, causing them to grow bent.
I’m debating with myself whether I want to cut it into more manageable pieces and haul it out, bit by bit, or just drag the whole thing out in one go.
The lazy part of me says, drag it out in one go. :-D
While working my way towards the elm tree with the tire around its base, I made a discovery.
I’d been able to somewhat see the log someone leaned against the tree trunk through the dying cherry trees, but what is that metal thing under it, and the fallen branch?
It’s a metal chair frame.
Because… of course.
I’m keeping this.
I’ll turn it into an art installation. To go with all the toilets I’m finding! :-D
Clearing around that elm meant I also finally reached one side of the pallet fence.
There’s a poplar growing through it.
I also uncovered a dead tree and some fallen branches.
There are some branches that I put in the area (you can’t see it in the picture) that I saved from the pile in the big garden area that my sister and her husband had pruned before we moved here. Some of it is apple wood. I also kept some of the dead and dying cherry trees I cleared today. I plan to cut them into discs, or other shapes, to make things with them.
It’s hard to see, but as I was trying to clear away the cherry and poplars, I found some of them were growing through the remains of pallets.
There’s going to be a lot of that, as I work my way into the area.
By this point, it was getting simply too hot to keep working outside, and I had to stop for the day. Checking the temperatures before I started this post, I found it was 30C, with a “feels like” of 33C. Hopefully, I’ll be able to continue tomorrow. They’re predicting thunderstorms, but we shall see!
Here are the after pictures of my progress so far.
That reciprocating saw made the job so much easier! The only other tools I had to use were pruning sheers for stuff too small to use the saw on, and a rake, to try and find the bases of the trees I was taking down.
Of the self-sown cherry trees in the area I cleared, I did actually keep one. It even has some cherries ripening on it! I’m hoping it’s far enough away from the elm tree to get adequate sunlight.
Clearing and thinning the trees is the easy part. The hard part is going to be dragging the dog house out (it’s on a pallet, which is rotting and collapsing under it), then digging all the old pallets, pieces of carpet, and who knows what else is buried in there!
It was lovely doing my rounds with morning, and I just wanted to share some of my flowering finds. :-)
One of my mother’s fancy lilacs is now blooming. Last year, while cleaning up this flower bed, I took out a maple tree that was growing in the middle of it!
At its base, where I had pruned and cleared quite a bit, there is now massive new growth of this lilac.
Swallowtails love lilacs, we’ve noticed. :-) I wasn’t able to get a picture of one this morning, though.
The first couple of my mother’s poppies opened this morning. This one is near the lilac bush in the above picture. The large leaves you see to the left is a small cherry tree. Small enough that I hope to transplant it to a better location, by next year.
Another poppy that opened up this morning is under the bird bath.
We’re going to have lots of these blooming, this year!
I tried making my way through an area of the spruce grove this morning, but there were too many fallen trees and undergrowth blocking my way. The wild roses scattered throughout, however, were blooming enthusiastically in the mess. It should be interesting to see how they do after the area is cleaned up, and they have more light and space. :-)
This is one of the plants I’ve been seeing growing all over the places where I had pruned branches and cleared away deadwood. This one is near the south fence of the spruce grove, where I’d managed to do some clearing before the snow fell, last year. This is the first of the flowers I’m seeing from this plant. I don’t know the name of it, but we’re going to have quite a lot of these, all over the place! :-)
I also did a bit of patriotic decorating today.
Canada Day will be here soon, so I set up four sturdy little flags that we have, on the East fence line, facing the road.
Kinda wishing I had more! I love how they look. :-)
Today, I finally had both the time and the weather conditions to work on the south fence line of the spruce grove (there there aren’t actually any spruces left…).
So, while waiting for the freshly washed gates to dry, I brought out the weed trimmer, my new reciprocating saw, and a whole lot of extension cord!
Last year, before it finally got too cold to work on cleaning and clearing the trees, I did manage to get some areas on the south side of the spruce grove done. Just a bit by the garage, and more more by the gate.
One of my goals for the day was to finally start working on clearing that middle section. Since we now have a working electric chain saw, which is the perfect size for the job, I figured it would be nice and quick. When cutting some of the larger trees, I’d made a point of leaving fairly tall stumps, so they would be easily visible and no one would trip over them. I intended to cut those flat with the ground, too.
Yesterday was a fairly long day, as the girls and I made another trip into the city. Which should be the last supply trip needed. From now on, anything we’ll need over the month can be picked up locally.
Of course, before we headed out, I fed the critters. As I was putting food and water in the sun room, I discovered I had some quiet company.
I wanted to share some images from a few days ago, when a fog rolled in, covering much of the prairies.
Part of our spruce grove.
It resulted in some incredibly beautiful frost.
On the way home from town, my daughter tried to get some photos out the window. At one point, I was able to come to a near stop for a while, as she took photos of an old church. Which is when we spotted this guy. He was right in front of us, then dashed off towards the church, where my daughter managed to take a few pictures.
Our foxy neighbour!
What a big, bushy fellow he was!
Now I can’t go near that intersection, without looking for foxes! :-D
The Re-Farmer 