That was close!

A line of severe thunderstorms barreled through our area last night. I'd seen the radar and knew it was coming sometime after 10 PM. About eleven-thirty, Deuce jumped to his paws and barked like someone was coming up the lane. I have a sensor that dings if that happens, and it was silent, but I knew he heard something. This morning I discovered what.

I always take Deuce out between six and seven every morning. What greeted us was a large tree limb in the middle of the parking area. No wonder the dog raised hell about it! I'll need to put the Brush Crusher 4200 on the tractor to move that to the brush pile. 

I can do that. I'm just grateful it missed hitting my Colorado. That would have made me very unhappy! 

When you live in the woods you expect these things to happen, but it seems the wind is getting worse. I suppose it's a direct result of the solar maximum and the solar flares. There's nothing much we can do except trim the trees closest to the house. Like I need more firewood at this point. (I don't.)

The branch will lie there until tomorrow. Another line of storms and rain is bearing down on us, and I'm not going to be sitting outside on a big chunk of metal when it gets here.

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, storm damage, John Deere 1023, Brush Crusher 4200, country lifestyle, rural living, solar maximum, guard dogs, a writer's life

Hard work helps

 

The past two weeks have not been anything to brag about. The Lord of the Manor's illness has tested us yet again, and this time we've failed. It's easy to blame one or the other, but we've both allowed anxiety to overcome us. It has not been pretty. However...

The Lord of the Manor's situation is improving, and I've taken the opportunity to escape the house. Granted, I'm only doing things I'd be doing anyway, but it's away from his demands. Today went well. Yesterday, not so much.

We're in the middle of what the old-timers call the January thaw. Yes, it started in January so the term applies. Yesterday and today, the weather was perfect for this time of year and I took full advantage of it. 

• Pick up sticks and limbs blown down
• Burn the sticks; brush
• Bring over firewood
• Spread mulch from tree-trimmers on tractor path
• Restack parts of the woodpile needing it (sort out the too-long pieces and throw on brush pile)
• Spread clean crush gravel
• Prepare and set Brush Crusher 4200 on the new pallet

City dwellers may think that a short list, but anyone living out in the country knows just how much time is involved. And I did all that while running in and out of the house to check on the ailing partner, doing a load of laundry, and preparing two meals and an evening snack each day.

I may be woman, and I may roar, but bedtime is nine o'clock. 

I'm very pleased to have this "pre-spring" clean-up almost finished. I've got one spot to get the fallen sticks and limbs from as soon as the ground dries up enough to get the tractor in there. 

What did I do before I got the John Deere 1023? I worked harder! The tractor is a game changer. 

I wish I could say I feel at least a smidgeon of guilt about running out on an ailing spouse, but I don't. The outside work is therapy for me. I'm physically tired, but I feel so much better. Today there were no harsh words spoken on either side. This is a good thing. 

Tomorrow will bring another test. I need to go to the landfill, and I must stop at UPS to send an item back to Amazon. How will he react to being left alone? Will he be patient and stay in his recliner and enjoy a leisurely cup of coffee? Or will he pull another stunt and end up lying on the floor until I get home and pick him up? 

It's a coin toss, but I will leave and run my errands in the morning. And when I return home, hopefully, I'll be able to get into the lower section of the woods for the deadwood. 

Spring is coming, though. Working in the woods, I've spotted daffodil sprouts everywhere! It gives me hope that this time of trial will pass and I'll come out the other side even stronger. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holy Tree Manor, The Hideaway, John Deere 1023, Brush Crusher 4200, rural living, country lifestyle, daffodils, caregivers, firewood

Finally! Warm weather means outside work

 

outside motion=activated lights

I've been waiting months for a Saturday with decent weather. The mercury hit a healthy 75F today, and we were outside handling some odds and ends. 

You do know what mercury has to do with thermometers, right? Look it up, babycakes. 

The spousal unit was, to my surprise, happy to hop on the old Husqvarna and mow the grass while I cleaned out the greenhouse, installed a few new motion-activated solar lights, and worked on gardening "stuff." He then swapped out the bucket on the tractor for the Brush Crusher and gathered up a few downed branches. Then he put the bucket back on and added a scoop of garden soil to my cart so I can amend it for growbags, and spread two or three buckets of gravel where we drive the John Deere in and out of its barn. We were busy all day.

And you know what? It felt really good to get a few things accomplished. I'm really glad we decided to get a few more of the outside lights. It's dark out there when Deuce makes his last trip out before bed. Black night, black dog - he literally disappears! Now we have these fixtures all over the place and I can keep an eye on him. Another plus is we won't forget to turn off the outside lights and have them burning electricity all night. Yes, I have done that - but no more!

I put up the curtain screen door today, too. I didn't want to put it up this early in the year, but those big drilling bumblebees arrived today. They don't sting but we don't like them buzzing about when we're relaxing on the patio. 

I also hit the step goal for the day without going for a walk. I got all my steps in just working in the yard. Tomorrow may be different. I think Deuce needs a good long walk to burn off some doggie energy. 

We're not sure what we'll accomplish tomorrow in the way of yard work, but it won't be on the same level as today. We have plenty to do, but we need to pace ourselves.  We're both feeling "old" tonight. Go figure!

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor (The Hideaway)

Brush Crusher 4200 tree take-down

One thing we are not short of here on the manor is trees. And when you have trees, you have trees that die and topple over. We had one such dead tree standing along the lane, and the plan was to cut it down this spring. One of the last windstorms beat us to the punch. The tree uprooted and headed for the ground only to snag in another nearby tree. We've been waiting for it to warm up enough for us to go outside and start our spring clean-up and today was the day that tree came down.

Here's the video, which is posted on YouTube.

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor (The Hideaway)