Rot Repair, Sanding, and More Priming

This weather just isn't cooperating.   Nice sunny skies but cold, very cold.  I was able to finish priming the second set of shutters.  But now I am just waiting for a day where the weather is sunny and at least 55 degrees before I can even think about putting two coats of semi gloss paint on them.  We have spent a lot of time making these shutters and hunting down the hardware for them so the last thing I want to do is rush the top coat.  This will be a test of my patience but I must resist the urge to paint before the weather is warm enough.

Best way to resist the urge?  Move on to another project.  I started raking the flower beds around the garden shed because that is where R was working and I like to get the hosta beds raked before they start growing.  None have pop through yet but I did find some tulips and hyacinth bulbs that are starting to come up.  Also the daffodil bulbs that R and planted last year under the hedge row of lilacs out by the street have popped up.  We can't plant tulips like we want to, due to the fact that we have a lot of black walnut trees that are toxic to a lot of plants.  Tulips don't do well but daffodils do just fine and they are more deer resistant, too.  So to add some variety I try to plant different daffs every year.  This fall I am going to plant white or very pale yellow ones.  AND more hyacinths....love hyacinths.....the scent...is only second to lilac.  Love them both.

R has spent the last two days working on filling in the rotted window sills in the garden shed with universal filler.  We have used it before and it holds up to our extreme winter weather.  Should we have cut out the rotted sills and replaced them?  Probably, but this is a garden shed and we have bigger fish to fry then to do a restoration on the shed.  We have made big strides with the garden shed that everyone said "tear it down!"  So for now, filling in the sills with filler is just fine.  It is not like George Washington slept in our garden shed.

On Thursday, R put the first coat of filler on and today he sanded and shaped it, and then refilled again.  It's a process of layering.  

R touched up the flower boxes with the sander before he put it away.  Depending on the weather on Saturday, I might start priming just the inside of the flower boxes.  I can do that in the work room and not have to worry about the cats stepping on the wet paint.  I probably just jinxed myself and the cats will all decide that they must sleep inside the flower boxes.

Within the next month, we have a tree trimming crew coming for 8 hrs to trim our large trees.  We have a very large ash tree that has two large low limbs that need to be removed and also a few dead limbs that are too high for us to get to.  They will also remove two black walnut limbs over the sun room and remove all the small limbs that grow downward.  The bulk of their work will be on two huge silver maple trees that have a lot of storm damage.  These trees are important because they are situated where they give us our afternoon shade in the summer.  Do I wish that they were not silver maple and maybe oak or sugar maple?  Yes, but I cannot go to the nursery and buy a 100 year old tree.  So we are making these trees work by removing limbs that will cause us problems in the future or limbs that could compromise the health of the trees.

I am currently collecting bits and pieces for a focal point design piece for the back of the house.  There isn't a rush on it because we have to reshingle and hang eave troughs first.  Here's a hint...it involves our scrap pile....Surprise!!

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Trimming Trees and Shady Projects

The trees on our property had been neglected for many years before we purchased the house. Over the years we have trimmed and cut a little here and there.

This year we made a serious attempt to finally take care of all the trees. Every storm brought down new dead limbs and twigs. We grew tired of picking up tree debris.

Due to the excessive heat, we decided to take care of projects that are in the shade such as weeding and tree trimming. Our plan is to raise the canopy high enough that we will not have to trim low hanging branches again. We are also removing any dead or damaged wood as we move from tree to tree. We have several more large trees in the front of the property to trim after that we move to the back yard where the trees are in need of trimming BIG TIME.

We have so much cut wood that I believe we could totally heat (use the 3 fireplaces) the house all winter for the next two or three years. I need to call the fireplace chimney guy before the weather turns cold.

The weeding is coming along nicely. The hosta beds look wonderful and the plants are really getting full. We have decided to remove several tender perennials out by the gate and replace them with large sedum like the Autumn Joy we planted last year. Plants that require watering end up being neglected because dragging the garden hose out there is a pain.

The weather report is calling for a slight chance of rain all week so that rules out crabgrass killer. Crabgrass removal is high on my list. The areas we treated last year look great this year and show no signs of crabgrass.

Our usual Japanese beetle problem seems to be less of a problem this year. I saw several of those nasty bugs on a couple of rose bushes but the plum trees look unaffected so far.

We have also continued with our asphalt repairs. That is slow going and messy. But in the end it will extend the life of our driveway.

Since no one wants to look at more tree trimming photos or photos of broken asphalt...here is some flower porn for you. Look at the size of that lily.

Trimming Dead Branches with a Chainsaw on a Stick

We decided today to trim dead and low hanging branches since it was again too windy today to spray Round Up on my weeds.

For the small branches R used his chainsaw on a stick (small electric chainsaw on an adjustable pole). Sounds like a good idea but it is killer on the back. I was happy to be the designated ladder holder today.Oops...I guess I didn't do too good of a job holding the ladder. But it is difficult to get a good photograph using one hand. I believe R's exact words were..."will you put down that #$%^ camera and hold the ladder." To which I replied.."I need a photo for my blog." I won't tell you what he said about my blog. LOL

The plan for tomorrow is to pick up all the branches and finish cutting the dead branches out of the large ash tree that is growing next to the two large pines we trimmed today. The weather forecast is for storms by 2pm on Wednesday. I hope the rain holds off until about 6pm so we can finish up this round of trimming.

The next photo is an after photo. I like the limbs to be the same height all along the bottom. Before we trimmed these pine trees some of the boughs would touch your head when you walked under them. The limbs were also resting on the weeping mulberry tree which would in time kill the part of the mulberry tree that it was touching.
Pray for no rain until late Wednesday. We have had so much rain that it seems that all we do is mow and pull weeds.

Power Lines and Tree Trimming in Grand Blanc Township

First off let me just say, I understand the need for the trees to be trimmed to keep the current, cable, and telephone flowing uninterrupted. But there is absolutely no need to needlessly cut down large trees nor to trim large trees so that their structural integrity is compromised with an end result being a large dead tree.

Our energy provider is Consumers Energy and they are currently trimming trees around the power lines in our area. We knew this was coming because we received a letter about six months ago stating that they would be marking trees for removal and trimming. Four months ago they marked the trees. No problem either, the trees marked were the ones I thought should be trimmed or removed.

As a matter of fact, I was disappointed that they were just trimming an elm tree that was completely tangled around a utility pole and into the wires. I was ecstatic that they were going to remove several dead ash trees because we were planning on hiring Precision Tree Care to come back and cut them down. So this saved us a minimum of $250 a tree. Last year we paid $250 to have a dead elm cut down that was under the power lines and would have been removed this week.

The tree trimming company that was subcontracted to take care of tree trimming is Davey Tree Trimming. They have an arborist who marks the trees and oversees the trimming. Two days ago Davey Tree Trimming shows up and proceeds to trim a very large old pine that was not marked for trimming. They not only trim it but they over trim it. Conifers do not grow like deciduous trees. This tree had been trimmed about 8 years ago and had not grown back even an inch into the precious 10 feet zone. They broke interior branches by stepping on smaller limbs for support and they dropped the cut branches on my small rhododendrons.

My husband arrives home just as they finish the trimming on the pine. He asked them why they trimmed a tree that was not marked. The trimmer replied, "I'll cut it to the ground if I want to." When R tells me this I shoot a quick email to the Grand Blanc Township Supervisor Micki Hoffman. FYI....three days later I am still waiting for a reply. I then called the arborist who tells me that they should not have trimmed a tree that he had not marked and that "no, they do not have the authority to cut down a tree if he felt like it."

The next day the remaining trimming is completed under our constant watch. They were not happy with us standing around watching them. They prefer to hack and whack rather than trim as they were being forced to do.

R estimates we have at least a week's worth of clean up to do in the spring. He spent yesterday hauling wood away. If we were an elderly couple we would have had to hire this work done. Consumers Energy states that the wood would be cut into manageable pieces and stacked. Does this look like manageable pieces and stacked? R used his chainsaw to cut the large trunks into somewhat manageable pieces. Some were so big that he had to just drag the trunk pieces with a chain behind the lawn tractor to get them to the wood pile. This took at least 5-6 hours and was back breaking heavy work in 21 degree weather.
In the backyard we have a very large yew bush. Above the yew was a black walnut tree that needed to be trimmed. The trimmers hacked and whacked and dropped large chunks of limbs into the yew bush. The entire center of the bush is destroyed.The trimmers stepped on my hydrangeas and dragged their feet through all my hostas. They hit my fruit trees with the brush they were moving from the backyard to the front yard so it could be shredded. I just kept telling myself the damage would have been worse if we were not standing there watching their every move.

I will also have to wait until the snow melts to check for damage to our asphalt driveway. While they were removing the dead trees near our driveway I noticed that they were dropping the large limbs, cut end first from the cherry picker onto our driveway. I am hoping that we do not have any gouge marks on our driveway since we just spent $2300 having it sealed last summer.
I swear.....it's two steps forward...one step back. I am just glad it snowed last night so now the mess is covered up and I don't have to look at it.