How busy is too busy?

 

To say that's it's been a busy stretch would be an understatement. It's that time of year when you look around and see a few things that need done before the really cold weather creeps up on you. So I got busy, did the work, and I videoed a lot of it. 

There was cleaning up the wood yard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOMDflULKhs&t=8s 

I harvested the basil and made pesto. It's not really a cooking vid, just the way I do it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k922IppD3FE&t=17s

One day, I took some time to do the little bit of fall decorating I do. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pC2V-dpXLVU

But the really BIG THING that happened was the tree trimmers finally arrived to take down the mostly dead oak tree. I've been sorting and organizing the logs so that when the wood dries out enough to split, it will be an easier job. That video isn't out yet, but it's coming soon. 

On top of all that at the home front, I've been out to dinner with friends, dined with family, and enjoyed the weekly Trivia Nite at a local "tavern" with a cousin. The game takes place in the ballroom so you know it's not a real tavern. I canned a batch of green peppers, chicken breast, and white bean and sausage soup.

This week, I put on my author hat and started to add my backlist to Audible. You can read about that over at Between the Keys. If you already have some of my titles, you can add the audiobook for $1.99. It's going to cost me a small fortune to get the audiobooks into my personal library, but it'll be worth it. 

It seems like I have something to do every day, and by the end of the day, I'm bushed. Heck, I went to bed with the chickens last night and slept for nine hours! 

In reality, I think it's good to be busy. Having nothing to do would make life pretty boring. Those days are just around the corner. Winter will arrive and my days will shrink to the computer, the TV, and the woodstove. 

Until then, I'll count my busy blessings.

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, YouTube, autumn, gardening, woodstove, firewood, tree trimming, cooking, basil, Black Labrador Retriever, family, trivia, winter, audio books

Tree topping in Triple H weather - not advised

I've been a bit MIA lately, and that's because I've been working with the cousin in Triple H weather. That's hazy, hot, and humid in case you don't live in the Mid-Atlantic region and don't know. I can only work for a couple of hours at a time when I'm on my own. If I get heat stroke, I'll lie there and be dead before someone misses me. We don't want that to happen! 

My property is a three-acre lot and two of those acres are wooded. That's fine. I like trees. The only thing that beats shade in the summer is central air in the house. But I digress...

Back in 1981 the trees were not this big. They grew, and some of them became uncomfortable neighbors. Cousin Dave and I rented a "cherry picker" lift and topped out six of them. I'm in the midst of cleaning up the brush so we can cut firewood rounds. It's going to take many, many, many days to get it all finished, but in the end, our firewood rounds stockpile will be in good shape. 

Deuce has a bit to say about the lift we rented. He was not impressed. https://deucesday.blogspot.com/2025/07/whats-this-thing.html

Years ago, I began to post short videos so my husband could see what was happening around the manor in places he could no longer physically get to. There were also dog vids, and vids of walks and such, all posted in the hope he'd feel included. 

After he passed, I pondered whether or not to start a more intense video project, and to that end I've been recording my activities on the manor. My YouTube channel is called The Hideaway Between the Keys, and as with all things, Google knows where to find me. I think YouTube has changed up some things and it's now youtube.com/@KCKendricks. I think. I'm still figuring a lot of "stuff" out. 

I'll have upcoming videos of the tree trimming and cleanup, as well as some general gardening and general manor activity vids. It really is my life unscripted. 

But back to the Triple H weather, I'm pretty much done for the day with outside work. I grabbed the chainsaw around 7:15 AM and worked clearing the brush from the top of one of the downed maples until the sunshine stole the shade from me. I'll go at it again tomorrow morning. Once I have the smaller, lighter brush removed, the cousin will return with his big saw and finish the heavier work. Sooner of later, it'll all get done and I'm fine with that. My plan is to get to the end goal without giving myself a heat stroke. 

Good plan!

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, KC Kendricks, YouTube, country lifestyle, rural living, tree trimming, firewood, weather, heat stroke, Milwaukee chainsaw, John Deere 1023

The 10-day forecast is ugly

It's like living in a tomb. 

It's not unusual for the weather in June to turn hot after the summer solstice. Of course, it's not usually THIS hot, but old Sol is doing some crazy things at the moment. Solar cycle 25 and all that. And it's not crap - it's science. 

Deuce and I walked down the creek earlier this morning. It was already 85F at nine o'clock, but I worry about my best boy so I wanted to help him cool down. The creek is spring-fed and the water is cold, and he enjoys getting his paws wet. He's getting older and that little excursion apparently required him to come home and take a nap. 

There's a short video of him walking in the creek below. 

Why do I say it's like living in a tomb? Over the course of the last several years I upgraded all the curtains/drapes to blackouts. I got them from Amazon and they not only keep out the light, but they really help keep the interior of the house cooler (and warmer on cold winter nights). I've been outside with Deuce after dark and if the curtains are closed, no light shows at the windows. They work.

My cousin and I had planned to work outside this week, but that's off the table. With age comes smarts and we're smart enough to know to avoid the heat when possible. It's indoor pursuits for both of us for at least the next ten days. 

Our grandmother had a saying: "This, too, shall pass."  And so it shall.

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, KC Kendricks, rural living, heat wave, tree trimming, country lifestyle, black Labrador Retriever

Tree carnage (the tree service was here)

Our number finally rolled up to the top. The tree service rolled in yesterday at about 2:00 PM. By 4:30 PM, their job was done, I'd paid the man, and they rolled out of here. I'm a couple thousand dollars poorer, but it was worth every penny not having to clean up the brush. 

We sat on the sunroom porch and watched the action. The owner of the company and a certified arborist did the chainsaw work, and three Spanish-speaking men chipped the brush and other chores. 

I'd hired them to take down the leaning maple. That tree has been leaning since Hurricane Isabel in September 2003, but the situation deteriorated recently. The tree it was leaning on began to show signs of stress, so it was time. Then to complicate it more, a week or so ago, the top broke out of a neighboring tree and landed on the leaner. 

We expected them to work from the top of the leaner down, cutting off branches until they'd untangled the intertwined branches and limbs of both trees. They did not. 

The arborist went up in the bucket and did some cutting, dropping several large branches before securing two ropes, the precise location we couldn't pinpoint. He then came down and he and the owner had a conference before the owner set to work with his chainsaw. 

He notched the supporting tree, and then the leaner. When he moved behind the leaner to make his cut, we realized their plan was to drop both trees at once. It worked and once the trees were on the ground, the chipping began. 

They cut firewood poles and moved them to an out-of-the-way spot. The resulting mulch from the chipping was dumped on a pile to cure. I'll use that next year to mulch weedy areas along the stone fence. They even raked up the leaves. The only job left for the cousins and me to do now is work the pile of firewood poles at our leisure. 

It was worth every penny. I think I'll have them come back in a few months and take down another maple that could become a hazard. 

We generally like to do things ourselves, but 1)we're not getting any younger, and 2) we're smart enough to know when to call in the professionals. 

The view from my desk is different this morning, but it's a change I feel good about. I can't say that about much. 

The Lady of the Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, tree trimming, rural living, country lifestyle, arborist, woods, maple trees, Hurricane Isabel 2003, a writer's life, tree service, new views, firewood

It really was a close run thing

Yesterday, after what seemed like a long delay, the tree trimmer returned to take down the massive poplar tree that grew outside my office windows. It may seem strange for us to cut down a seemingly healthy tree, but those of us who live in the country know trees have a lifespan. We began to suspect the tree was at the end of its health and we were correct.  The sudden problem with branches dying was a sign of a worse problem. Once the tree was down, it was clearly evident the heartwood was dying. I feel like we cut it down in the nick of time.

The poplar was about eighty feet tall and big. Like really, really big. Coming home and driving up the lane, anyone could see it rose above the maples. For over forty years I've watched that tree drop a single yellow                                        
leaf on August 1 every year. I found that amazing. 

What was not amazing was the tree taking an odd twist on the way to the ground! The picture does not do it justice. The tree trimmer went up the tree like a squirrel and cut off branches along the way. Then he cut the trunk, section by section until about thirty feet remained. It was then things took a turn. It only missed the house by about six feet. 

Himself was in the house at that moment and he said it sounded like a bomb went off when the trunk hit the ground. Cousin Dave and I were parked along the upper stone fence, perched on our respective tractors to watch. Dave's tractor is orange, not green, but we don't hold that against him. 

But I digress...

Before

When the tree hit the ground, I must have made a noise. Dave kept asking if I was okay. Okay? Noooo. Not much, at least at that moment. 

I'm pretty sure it rattled the tree trimmers, too. They had a guideline on the tree with a lot of tension else I wouldn't be sitting here in my cozy sunroom office telling the story. I'd be looking for a place to live. 

While I appreciate the tree trimmer and his abilities, it may be a while before he gets to come back.  

Today, Himself and I set ourselves to the task of cleaning up the brush from the tree. I started around eight o'clock, and he joined me around nine. I really wonder how in the world we managed clean-up before we had a tractor. What took one day with the John Deere took several days without. As I type this, the fire is still smoldering, but I can keep an eye on it from the office. 

After

My skyline looks different. The poplar dominated it for many years. While we worked today, we both commented on how much more sunshine reaches into the woods. With the tree gone, I wonder if the spot would be good for my greenhouse. I think I'd really like to have it just outside my office window. 

Before we started the clean-up this morning, the young buck meandered through the yard and stood staring at the mess as if perplexed. He and I get along tolerably well so I stepped out onto the porch to speak to him. He stopped, flicked his ears and tail, and then went on his way, carefully stepping through the leaves. I suppose tree branches and leaves on the ground are not an everyday occurrence in his world. 

Thankfully, it's not in my world, either. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor (The Hideaway)

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, tree trimming, poplar trees, deer, country living, rural lifestyle, close calls, 

Tree trimming - maple tree down

It's rare we need to harvest an entire healthy tree, but over the course of the last few years, it became obvious we had a maple that had to go. It developed a bit of a lean that posed a danger to the house should the tree fall on its own. Because of the size and location of the tree, we called a professional for help.  

We had to wait a while before the trimmer got to us since he's not exactly local. He waited until he had a couple of jobs in our area - price of gasoline and all that - and we were okay with this happening as best fit his schedule. 

It was fascinating to watch him work. It takes a lot of guts, and strength, to shimmy up a tree and start cutting off branches. He cut off the heavy branches that pulled the tree into a lean and set a pull rope, the other end of which was secured to a different tree with a "come along" to ratchet pressure in the direction he wanted the tree to fall. Then he came back to the ground and cut the tree. It fell exactly where we wanted it to fall. 

We discovered our tree held a wonderful secret - ambrosia wood. Ambrosia maple is highly sought after by woodworkers for the unique patterns created by a beetle-borne fungus. We worked a deal with the tree trimmer for him to take sections of the trunk to his sawmill. I'm pleased some of the wood will be used for more than firewood. 

And as for firewood, there was plenty left for us and for my cousin, who helped greatly with the cleanup. 

The tree trimmer will be back this fall to harvest the huge poplar outside the sunroom windows. It too has gotten too tall to be so close to the house. I'll hate to see that tree go. It's been a companion of sorts, giving me the first harbingers of changing seasons. Even as I look out the window, right on time, a few yellow poplar leaves have come to earth. 

We do what we must. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor (The Hideaway)

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, tree trimming, ambrosia maple, country living, rural lifestyle, a writer's life, harvest, firewood