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Ah, the life of the suburban homeowner!
Feb. 3rd, 2013 05:19 pmAfter breakfast and the obligatory writing session at the coffee shop, I swung by Home Depot to acquire my very own electric pole chainsaw and then accomplished the following:
* Finished pruning the ornamental plum in the front yard. (I think I have it in me to do serious pruning on one or two trees a year. Must remember to rotate appropriately.)
* Took off the several limbs from the other front-yard shade tree that were seriously menacing the sidewalk.
* Did some desultory hacking at major overhanging limbs from trees along the front west property line.
* Dragged the results of all this carnage into the side of the driveway to await hauling and/or shredding depending on what option comes cheapest.
* Mowed the front lawn.
* Failed to damage my ankle in the hidden pit-fall.[*]
* Pruned the dead wood out of the apple tree that I hadn't gotten to in last year's pruning.
* Took off the seriously leaning limbs on the lilac and tidied it up.
* Chopped a bunch of other shrubbery off at the fence line in the back west corner of the yard.
* Did some basic pruning of the backyard plum tree: took some height off, took the main limbs back to a length that can support the weight of the fruit, removed any limbs likely to overhand the neighbor's yard.
* Asked the neighbor if I could go in their back yard to clean up the pruned branches. SUggested I might prune the olive tree from their side while I was at it. Have earned brownie points with neighbors.
* Cut the grape vine (why yes, I have a volunteer grapevine -- no fruit that I've seen yet) back to something I might be able to stake to the fence ... assuming I remember to do so.
* Dragged all the backyard trimmings into the side yard but failed to get as far as adding them to the pile in the driveway. (Since I have a 3-car-wide driveway, none of this will interfere with getting the car in and out.)
* Probably succeeded in not scratching my cornea with a flailing olive branch but it's still a bit sore.
* Hot shower, chicken slow-roasting in the oven with acorn squash, stiff drink, and that silly football game is still going on evidently.
When I was at Home Depot I contemplated picking up some 4" lavenders and rosemarys to put in the gaps in the parking strip but I bethought myself on my rule of thumb that plants should go in the ground the day I buy them and correctly predicted that I'd run out of steam before that could happen.
[*] Whoever removed several dead trees from my yard at some point before I bought it seems to have been enamored of some sort of enzymatic stump-disintegrator process. It works exceedingly well. Eventually, where there had once been a ground-level stump and underground root system, there is a thoroughly digested spongy mass under the illusion of soil. At some point, when you step on this location, your foot will sink through the sponge. This will be very disconcerting.
* Finished pruning the ornamental plum in the front yard. (I think I have it in me to do serious pruning on one or two trees a year. Must remember to rotate appropriately.)
* Took off the several limbs from the other front-yard shade tree that were seriously menacing the sidewalk.
* Did some desultory hacking at major overhanging limbs from trees along the front west property line.
* Dragged the results of all this carnage into the side of the driveway to await hauling and/or shredding depending on what option comes cheapest.
* Mowed the front lawn.
* Failed to damage my ankle in the hidden pit-fall.[*]
* Pruned the dead wood out of the apple tree that I hadn't gotten to in last year's pruning.
* Took off the seriously leaning limbs on the lilac and tidied it up.
* Chopped a bunch of other shrubbery off at the fence line in the back west corner of the yard.
* Did some basic pruning of the backyard plum tree: took some height off, took the main limbs back to a length that can support the weight of the fruit, removed any limbs likely to overhand the neighbor's yard.
* Asked the neighbor if I could go in their back yard to clean up the pruned branches. SUggested I might prune the olive tree from their side while I was at it. Have earned brownie points with neighbors.
* Cut the grape vine (why yes, I have a volunteer grapevine -- no fruit that I've seen yet) back to something I might be able to stake to the fence ... assuming I remember to do so.
* Dragged all the backyard trimmings into the side yard but failed to get as far as adding them to the pile in the driveway. (Since I have a 3-car-wide driveway, none of this will interfere with getting the car in and out.)
* Probably succeeded in not scratching my cornea with a flailing olive branch but it's still a bit sore.
* Hot shower, chicken slow-roasting in the oven with acorn squash, stiff drink, and that silly football game is still going on evidently.
When I was at Home Depot I contemplated picking up some 4" lavenders and rosemarys to put in the gaps in the parking strip but I bethought myself on my rule of thumb that plants should go in the ground the day I buy them and correctly predicted that I'd run out of steam before that could happen.
[*] Whoever removed several dead trees from my yard at some point before I bought it seems to have been enamored of some sort of enzymatic stump-disintegrator process. It works exceedingly well. Eventually, where there had once been a ground-level stump and underground root system, there is a thoroughly digested spongy mass under the illusion of soil. At some point, when you step on this location, your foot will sink through the sponge. This will be very disconcerting.
