Looking Up

 While I was outside with The Mews, I laid back and looked up.  I thought the tree branches and the clouds were kind of nice.

Nothing important about these pictures, but a few of them looked "interesting"...

Sometimes, I think we don't look up enough.  We are actually evolved to see the horizontal landscape.  That's there the flowers, shrubs and gardens are (and food and predators in times past).  But there are also tall trees, clouds, and blue skies.  

So this is a small respect to "up".

Odds And Ends

Random Stuff:

1.  Planted a Sourwood tree in the front yard (I have 2 in the back) .  The spot I wanted to plant it in was where a dead Beech tree was removed last Fall, and the spot was dense with old roots, so I planted it near the driveway.  

Which is probably a better spot anyway.  As I am rather inept at backing the car into the garage, I have to back it down the driveway.  I used to have 2 Golden Rain trees on either side next to the street as reference points.

But one died and the other blew over in a storm.  They aren't strong trees.  Well, OK, my car has a backup camera but it gives no depth perception.  So a new tree will help.

2.  Bought a new keyboard specifically designed for a Mac.  Most previous ones were Mac/Windows compatible.  This one has keys I'm not familiar with (in the sense they are named rather than symboled).    I don't immediately know the difference between "control, option, command" keys.  So, of course, the delete and backspace keys are only symbol.  

And if there is a "sleep" key, I have yet to find it.  Which matters.  The "sleep" function on the Mac screen menu sometimes takes a dozen tries.  The sleep button on my old keyboard seldom needed 3 tries.

The key touch feels great.  The ad said "backlit" which seemed great, but it isn't really.  Its more "reflective".  But that helps some...  It's Yivandi.

BTW, if you put one side of the keyboard "just" on your mousepad, the mousepad doesn't move around.  😀

3.  Walmart has small chrysanthemums on sale for $1.24.  I planted 4 of them into larger pots hoping for a good Halloween display on the front step by then.  A carved pumpkin would be more impressive though.  I have a good cat design I downloaded from a free site.  The question is whether I have the carving skills.  

I do have a really thin tomato slicer, and I am used to preparing a lot of veggies for dinner.  So I probably won't lose any fingers.

4.  Bought a non-slip cat food mat.  Marley really pushes his bowl around.  And if his bowl touches another cat's bowl, he considers both "his".

5.  Bought a new front door welcome mat.  I always like those fuzzy ones with cat images and that say "wipe your paws",  but they don't weather well.  This one is rubber (and says the same thing), so it should last longer...  Can't manage an image of it from Amazon...  

6.  Laz chased an intruder cat from the yard.  He ran at it weirdly. Legs spread out.  He looked like a flying squirrel at grass level...  Cats are funny about attacks sometimes.  LC used to bounce at intruders.   Marley used to do a bunny hop and a leap at the end.   I suppose that anything weird is scary to an intruder.

Yard

The bad news is that I had to have some landscaping cut down earlier this month.  Dead trees, dead shrubs, etc.  There was a dead tree too large for me to handle and remove, so I decided to have some other problems removed at the same time.  Used to look like this...

Those are all gone now...  Drought and windstorms.

The good news is that I can re-landscape the front yard.  Sometimes, it is good to have changes.  Choosing new things to plant will be fun.  They will be more heat and drought tolerant.  I also plan to reduce the lawn area.  I have a mulching mower, so lawn-clippings just stay on the soil a decay.  But grass wants what grass is - itself, so I don't fertilize it madly like some people do.  I give it a "bit" of organic slow-release nitrogen (corn gluten) every couple of years.  Well, some nitrogen escapes over time and the grass needs some replacement.

The mulching mower also shreds the fallen tree leaves.  That adds some bulk to the soil.  When I moved here 36 years ago, the soil would crack open like a dried-up river bed.  After all those years of leaving the grass and leaf clippings in place, the soil is softer, more fertile, and the grass doesn't even go dormant in the Summer.

But a large clear lawn is not my goal.  Sure, I want what there is to be healthy, but I don't need so much of it.  Every few years, I tend to add more islands of flowerbeds and a few shrubs (framed to make mowing easier).  I have to build 3 new ones now where the dead shrubs used to be.

Ideally, the entire front yards would go from "framed islands" to the whole thing with paths.  But I'm getting older gradually (is there any other way?) and maintenance becomes harder.  Well, wherever there are framed beds, I don't have to mow there.  And if I keep paper covered with mulch deep enough in the frames, I don't have to weed there either.  

So I guess I am planning how to make my future (less active) life easier.  Eventually, I won't even need a riding mower.  The self-propelled electric one will do all that it required.  My next car will be all-electric too.  Eventually, I will just have a landscaped yard with paths among the trees, islands, and shrubs.  

Complaints Update

Well, the neighbors 2 houses away resolved my remnant tree trunk curiosity; they cut those down last.  But 5 DAYS of chainsaw noise - wow!  I can't tell if their yard is much brighter (probably is but surrounded by a fence).  The backyard between us sure is brighter; I wonder if they are happy about it.  

I can even tell some difference in my backyard in early morning.  There are patches of sunlight where I haven't seem it for years.  Unfortunately, not in my garden area.  The rising sun quickly goes behind trees of my southern neighbor.

Speaking of the "neighbors between us" who surrounded most of their tree trunks with kitchen plastic wrap, I remain baffled.  Internet searching finds nothing about it, so it is probably some hare-brained idea (given their apparent inexperience at yardwork). There ARE plastic tree-guards you wrap around trunks of young trees in Winter to prevent bark-scorching, but that is entirely different heavier-duty stuff and the there are holes in it to allow air circulation to the bark.  

I'll have to post a question on a gardening site I visit occasionally.  Actually, I hope what they are doing kills those trees.  THAT would open up some light to my garden!  I don't mind that they are "junk trees"; to some extent, "trees are trees" in the same way that green weeds in a lawn are at least green.  And they produce oxygen just like weeds in the lawn do.  But I sure wouldn't mind if they rotted and died from the plastic wrap, LOL!

So the chainsaw music from the neighbor 2 houses away ended Friday.  Another neighbor started their own cutting project Saturday.  Tis the time of year, I guess.

I might be doing the same soon myself.  I have a Beech tree that died last year.  I gave it this one to see if it send out any new shoots.  It didn't.  I have a small specimen tree that also died last year.  It sent out a few shoots in Spring, but they withered, so it's dead.  

And a huge Sweetgum tree in the westside neighbor's backyard lost the top 1/3 some years ago and another 1/3 fell into my backyard last year (which makes it my problem).  Fortunately, it missed the 2 Sourwood and 2 Korean Dogwood saplings I planted 2 years ago.  I'm depending on them to grow fast and tall enough to shade out the wild blackberries that sprung up when I cleared the backyard of my own junk trees.  So I need a professional service to clear those out.

Motorcycle Man continues to just ride back and forth along my dead end street.  He goes back and forth every 20-30 minutes most of the day.  I originally thought he was doing motorcycle repairs in his garage, but I finally realized it was the same 3 motorcycles all the time.

It isn't like the motorcycles are the huge types that gangs ride, but the sound still penetrates the house and it's the repetitiveness that is most annoying.  I don't know anything about the rider.  He wears a visored helmet.  But he is too large to be a teen hiding his riding from the law.  I'm guessing an adult  either living in his parents basement or married with an unhappy home life.  

One of these days, I'll take a stroll down the road and see if I can figure out what house he is in.  It's not that he is doing anything illegal, but it sure is annoying.  Sort of like someone putting a church bell on their roof and having it ring ever half-hour 8 am to 10 pm.

I've probably been complaining too much lately.  I'll try to get back to more positive stuff soon.

Random Thoughts

1.  I like mushrooms, but there are limited uses.  They don't go with BBQ, ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard,; just stir fries or suateed with butter or bacon fat.

2.  I always I have to examine my paper napkin before tossing it.  Sometimes I make notes on them while eating dinner and watching TV.  Well, they're paper and I always have a pen handy.  

3.  I love tomatoes.  I ran out of them and made spaghetti sauce 2 nights in a row.  I could have made a pizza, but I was too late to make decent dough.

4.  I showed pics of myself on the cat blog yesterday and one commenter suggested I should smile more.  It's not the first time.  People have mentioned that for most of my life.  I do not have a natural smile.  In fact, my "neutral face" is rather frowny.  No idea why, but I also don't blame anyone.  It IS a frown.  

It is almost funny.  I once practiced smiling looking at a mirror.  I can assure you, that does not work.  An artificial smile (I CAN do it but it looks worse).  I CAN be surprised at one occasionally, but it is rare.  Rest assured that I am actually a pretty happy person, enjoy my cats when they are on-or-around me, and like my life.  

Really, who could have have happy cats around and not actually be happy themselves?

5.  Last Summer was brutal on trees here.  I have Golden Rain trees on either side of the front of the driveway.

They look like this on the web...  Mine don't.

The flowers look like this and it is very lovely towards Fall...

But last Summer's drought about killed them both.  There are few leaves growing from a couple branches.  Most limbs seem dead.  I watered them daily through a 5 gallon drip bucket.  That's where you drill a small hole and let water leak out slowly so it gets down into the roots.  I probably didn't do it enough. 

But I'll see if I can get them growing again.  There are a couple branches leafing and a few shoots from the trunks.

6.  The Beech tree in the front yard is probably a goner for the same reason.  The top had already died years ago, but lower limbs continued to grow.  This year, I need binoculars to see the one small branch with leaves.  

It isn't all that tall and if it falls over by the usual wind direction, it won't actually damage anything; and it has no special value for shade on the house.  In fact it shades the lawn and the Saucer Magnolia tree, so I'm thinking losing it might even be a benefit.  I value all trees for producing oxygen, but I will plant a specimen close to the spot to replace it.

7.  My indoors lettuce garden is growing.  Not enough to take a picture, but soon.  The seedlings are 1' high and growing fast.  The heirloom tomato seedlins are about 4" high.  I will be trying to graft them to more disease-resistant roots again soon.  I usually fail, but I keep trying.  Commercial grafters say they get about 90% success.  I get none.  Someday I will learn what I'm doing wrong.

Which is why I always plant enough heirloom tomato seeds for regular plantings.  Better some than none.

8.  I'm trying something new with the pole beans.  An angled 6" wire mesh so the beans hang down though it.  The idea is to make harvesting easier.

9.  I planted cherry tomato seeds in an upside down pot.  I've done this before successfully, but not for a few years.  The idea is to hang the pot at least 8' above ground so that the tomato hangs down from the bottom.  No cage required, easy to water from the deck, and convenient to pick a couple of cherry tomatoes as I leave the basement to do yardwork.  

The pot didn't fit under my basement lights, so I found a gooseneck lamp around the house and put a high-lumens LED bulb in it.  That should help it grow for a few days.  The weather is warming this next week, so I will be able to hang it from the deck soon where it will get direct sunlight.  After that, it is on its own.  If it doesn't work, little loss; 2 seeds...

10.  I went shopping Sunday.  Some produce stuff at Safeway (great fruitsd and veggies) and some basic stuff at Walmart (they have really great prices on some brand-name stuff).  But I also wanted 2 specific flower seeds and a couple automotive items (heavy lubrication grease for the garage door opener tracks, and starter fluid for gas engines, so I stopped at one place (that had  neither) and another place that had one. 

I guess I have to go to an automotive store for the starter fluid.  Another trip tomorrow.  Always one more trip to get what you need, but I had milk and ice cream in the car so could tarry much.

11.  Got back home, fed the cats, put away groceries, made dinner.  Some dinners seem great in the mind but are boring in actuality.  The chicken, onions, and bell peppers were boring; needed some spices.  

The tossed salad was good.  Mixed 1,000 Island dressing with leftover Italian.  The new tomatoes and basement celery leaves saved the meal.

12.  I almost forgot to mention the Baby Fish!  When I got a new pair of fancy guppies months ago.  Some were born and I worked to net them out into a separate container and they grew.  The aquarium is covered with floating anachris plants, so the newer babies have places to hide and grow but kind of on their own.  I now have a couple dozen guppies.  The males stay fancy with red and black colors and delta tails.

Sometimes efforts work...

Undergrowth

Three years ago, after failing to find anyone who would clear 1/8 acre of wild blackberries and small junk saplings, I bought a brush mower.  It is like a super-heavy-duty lawnmower.  The blade is bigger and heavier.  It has forward and reverse powered wheels.  It cuts down sapling 1 1/2" thick.  It grinds up debris like a chipper-shredder.

It worked great!  Cleared that whole area in 2 hours.  But all gas-powered machines need some basic maintenance and I am terrible about leaving old gas in the tanks.  It goes bad in the tank and leaves some parts sticky with dried gas.

That Spring, there wasn't much new undergrowth, so I thought I had killed it.  There was some growth  that Fall, but I planted 4 decorative trees (2 Sourwoods and 2 Korean Dogwoods) expecting that the shade of the trees would keep the undergrowth down (I used to have junk trees there that did that) and I would just brush-cut again THIS Spring.

Couldn't get it to start.   I gave a half-hearted try of soaking up the old gas with an old towel and then spraying carburetor cleaner into the tank and carburetor and adding a small amount of new gas.  No luck.

I probably could to a complete carburetor removal and cleaning.  I've done it before.  It a pain.  And I have a regular lawn mower than needs the same work.  I decided to just let a professional do them both.  Which requires delivering them to a repair shop.  Remember a couple days ago I mentioned my trailer was full of yard debris and I was waiting for the recycling center to dry and it won't because of all the rain?  I kept waiting.  And waiting.

I guess I am just going to have put on my mud boots and get rid of the yard debris.  Then bring the brush mower and regular mower to the repair place and wait for a month for them to fix them.  I can clear the brush in Winter as well as I can today.  And maybe that makes the blackberries die being cut down out of season (one can always hope).

One thing I am ceetain of is that, after years of this, I will either drain the gas from all my equipment or add gas stabilizer to the tanks!  

My "TO DO" list has gotten too long for me to mess with gas engines.  I'm losing ground on it the list.  It is probably the thing I CAN do that I like the least.  There is too much to do inside the house easier to do the than the things I like least.  And that would cost the same for professional help.

I also am making a list of professional improvements I want for the house (I'm not even going to TRY to install linoleum floors or wall tile).  But that's a future post. 

Rain

What an awful gardening year!  I would say there was NOTHING good about it, but the local reservoirs are probably filled to capacity and there have been years when they got dangerously low to the point of home watering restrictions.  And I will admit that my pole beans and cucumbers did pretty well in the raised beds (better drainage).

But the tomatoes died of fungal diseases, the carrots and leeks and broccoli crops never grew.  The spinach wouldn't even germinate.  And when you cant get radishes to grow, things are serious.

It was a cold wet Spring. July-October, we got over 2' of rain and November hasn't been much different.  It didn't rain for 5 days last week, but the ground is so saturated it didn't make any difference.  It isn't like we got the rain in large batches all at once; its just so CONSTANT!  And I got 3" of rain yesterday and today.

I cut down a lot of junk samplings  and undergrowth in late Spring and filled the trailer.  And there it sits.  The County yard debris recycling center (where they pile it all up in huge heaps that steam and decompose into a mulch/compost mix for homeowners to take for free and will use a bucket-loader to fill your trailer on Saturday mornings for free) is located in a slight depression.  

When it rains, the bulldozer that keeps turning over the piles for even decomposition churns it into a sea of mud.  I've been waiting for things to dry out enough to bring my debris there.  SINCE MAY!  And I have enough debris for 2 more loads.

Possibly the most consequential result is that my lawn is dying.  The soil is so wet for so long that there are large dead areas in the front.  The soil just "squishes" underfoot.  The last time I mowed it. it left muddy ruts.  Even just walking across it not only leaves footprints, the dead grass slides around underfoot.  If next year is relatively normal, I will have to do a lot of renewal.

The soil is good.  I'm organic and I use a mulching blade on the mower that turns grass into shreds in place.  There is no better fertilizer for grass than grass.  Well, grass has exactly what grass needs, right?  And I mow all the tree leaves too.  They get shredded into leaf dust after a few times around the lawn each Fall.   

I know the soil is good.  Each year I dig a hole randomly and look at the sides.  What used to be mostly clay is now darker and loamier after 3 decades.  And when I first moved here, the soil would crack open in Summer.  It doesn't do that anymore.

A couple years ago, a yard-maintenance agent came by to try to sell me on his services.  I invited him to look at the lawn.  He found some weeds of course.  He poked at the soil with a screwdriver and it went in nicely.  He actually complimented me on it.  And I don't do much.  The mulched grass clippings, the leaves.  An application of corn-gluten meal in Spring.  And overseeding every few years.  Cutting the grass 3" high.  I don't even water the lawn (except lightly when I overseed).

I may lose some decorative trees due to root-rot and drowning.  Last year was so dry I was forced to even water the decorative trees.  And this year they are soaked and drowning.  Yes, trees can drown; they actually need air.

Last year,  my 2 Golden Rain Trees lost most of their leaves by late Summer in spite of long drip watering.  This Spring, some branches were dead but there were new shoots from the trunk and a few living branches.  So I figured I would wait a year and seriously prune both of the deadwood next year.  

Well, half of one just broke off in a windstorm and I bet I could just break off more if I pulled on them.  But hope springs eternal.  I'll hope for their survival and gradual recovery.  I more worried about the Saucer Magnolia in the front lawn.   I would very much hate to lose that.  It is a joy to see blooming in the Spring.

If this precipitation pattern lasts another month or 2 I am going to see serious snowfall.  I better make sure the snowblower is working and move it into the garage. 

Tree Pictures

OK, sometimes I don't post as many pictures here as I do at Mark's Mews.  Cats are more photogenic.  And sometimes trees are just "trees".   But pictures do liven up mere words, and when I mention particular trees, I should show them. 

Part of it is that I don't always have the camera with me outside when I SUDDENLY get it into my mind to do something.  And sometimes I am mostly done with a project and think "why didn't I take pictures?" and then it is too late.  And, given how badly I type (I do a LOT of editing), I should take advantage of the fact that you can't misspell a picture...  LOL!

So here are some tree pictures...

First "Helen's Holly".  It was hard to find an angle where the holly stood out any from the background trees.  This was the best.  The lowest leaves are 6' above ground, so it looks to be about 15" high now and about 20 years transplanted here from 3'.

This is a row of prunings from the holly and a few other trees.  I gather the prunings in  piles I can pick up easily later to load onto the trailer.  The trailer is full of one set of prunings, and there are more in the back yard.  Easily 3 trailer-loads.

This is the front yard Saucer Magnolia showing (as best I can) the twisted branches I am trying to establish.

Hope this helps...

Near Dead Trees and Shrubs

Last year was really hard on the trees and shrubs in the yard.  I have 2 Golden Rain Trees on either side of the front driveway, for example.  In spite of frequent drip watering (obviously insufficient), they both nearly perished.  But there are some branches still alive on both, and both are sending out shoots from the main trunk.  I'm not experienced enough to know if that is really good or not, but growth is surely better than dead.

The 3 Burning Bushes sufferred various degrees of stress.  The first one by the drainage easement is fine but is overgrown with some thorny vine.  That needs to be cut and pulled out.

The second seemed OK, but suddenly had dead branches this Spring.  And they stuck out far.  Mowing was always a threat of poking out an eye.  I finally attacked all the dead branches a couple days ago with a lopper and the "saws-all".  I gained 3' all around the shrub.  And there were some junk saplings growing up through it.  I got them cut to ground level.  I hope they die as a result.

The third one was in better shape.  I don't know why; I didn't water it any more than the second one.  But sometimes, you take good news and just accept it.  It needed minor pruning.

My 5"x8" utility trailer is filled with pruning debris.  Even after I tie it all down, i will barely be able to see out the back of the Forester.  Barely is sufficient.  And on a Saturday, I will be able to return from the yard-debris drop-off County site with a trailerful of loaded mulch.

I have enough prunings for 2 more trailerloads and mulch in return.  I can use all the mulch.  It is nearly compost.  Some of it will go onto the long brown paper strips (that shipping companies use for shock-absorbtion) that I will put down between my garden beds.  More will go onto places in my flowerbeds where only weeds are growing to smother them for next year's plantings.  And any extra will just get added to the compost bins.  They have too much rich kitchen "green" waste and not enough "brown" bulk.  I'll turn the kitchen waste into the second bin and layer it with mulch.

This will be the first expedition with the new Subaru Forester hauling anything.  The trailer hitch was a real adventure.  The factory-installed tow hitch insert is a 1 1/4" x 1 1/4".  It takes a 1/2" pin which they did not supply.  The 1st hitch pin I bought was too short.  The 2nd one was also too short, but I was able to drill the hole slightly larger and hammer it into place.  That thing is NEVER coming off again, LOL!

So great, I will be hauling back a 5'x8'x18" trailerload of mulch and sholveling it into buckets to carry to the garden in effectively 100F heat for a few days!

Well, I do 45 minutes outside and 45 minutes inside to rest.  I'm not gonna kill myself moving mulch!

Pruning Trees

After I finished the backyard Saucer Magnolia last week as high as I could reach with a stepladder, I decided to tackle the front yard Saucer Magnolia.  It needed it as it was more internally clutterred.  Well, I spend more time in the back and I don't landscape to impress the neighbors, so the front yard always comes last.

There were downward branches, crossing branches, and upright watershoots (sideshoots that grow straight up and produce few leaves - basically parasitic growth).  Took 3 hours of pruning.  First, I took out all the watershoots (I have NO idea why they are called that).  That part was easy because I knew I didn't want ANY of them.

Second were down-branches.  They had gotten so bad, I was brushing them aside just mowing the lawn.  No need for them either. 

The third group (cross-branches) was trickier and I had to choose among the competing branches.  I should mention that I planted the 2 Saucer Magnolias because I saw them in a small park next to where I worked once.  They had awesome Spring flowers.  But even more impressive was the way the City Arborists had pruned and shaped the trees into very open shapes with very twisty branches.  I've been trying to replicate that for years.

To try for that look, I clear out most of the internal growth, and prune the branches to take advantage of changes in direction.  The trees don't do that naturally.  Rather, Saucer Mangolias seem accepting of cutting off a growing tip of a branch and encouraging a side shoot to grow at a 90 degree angle for a few feet and then doing that again after a few years of growth. 

The trees I admired in the park are about a century old.  Obviously, I won't live long enough to manage that look.  But it is interesting to do what I can and I can hope that the person/people who move in when I am gone will have some idea about continuing that .  I plan on leaving a history of the house and landscaping, updated until I am too demented to continue.

Some thoughts about trees:

1.  An optimist is an elderly person who plants a sapling.
2.  The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago.  The second-best time is today.
3.  If I had had the money when I bought this house, I would have had the lot cleared of all trees and scraped clean.  I would have magnificent specimen trees today (sourwoods, dogwoods, and golden rain trees), shading out all the invasive vines (english ivy, wild grape, poison ivy, wild blackberry, etc that I struggle with today.
4.  Planting trees is the batchelor's version of fathering children.

Pictures of twisty Saucer Magnolias are hard to find.  This is the best of what SEEMS to be some.  The one on the front left hints at the branch angles.


And this is not a Saucer Magnolia, but shows what the idea of deliberately angled branches looks like.


And that wasn't the end of the pruning.  I have 2 holly trees (they seem to grow wild in my neighborhood).  But more about that next time.  This is about Saucer Magnolias...

Been Busy

I haven't posted here in a while.  Not that I didn't have things to mention, just didn't do it.  I've been busy...

On the outside (and some of this may not be new but I'm too lazy to check, so forgive me):

1.  Transplanted 4 specimen saplings (2 dogwoods  and 2 sourwood) in the cleared area where the wild blackberries, virginia creeper vines and wild grape vines used to rule.  The saplings will stay about 20' tall and NOT shade the garden like the trees I removed did).

2.  Straightened and re-attached bent PVC tubes (with metal pipe inside) on the garden enclosure (I built it to keep squirrels, groundhogs, rabbits, and weird birds out.  Pollinating insects get through the chicken wire just fine.

3.  Been carefully spraying individual wild blackberries and vines to kill them.  New stuff is growing now that the blackberries aren't shading them, but a string trimmer cuts them down well.  When the sapling start to grow they will cast enough shade below them to prevent new growth.

4.  I used to have a compost bin next to the older shed.  I removed it a few years ago and built another one that is better.  But there was a foot of rich soil left over on the old site.  I moved most of it to the new garden beds.

5.  Years ago, I ordered a dozen seedlings of a nice perennial flower with purple leaves.  They sent me the wrong plant.  But as it also had purple leaves I didn't realize the error.  The wrong plant is VERY INVASIVE. (lychimastria 'Firecracker' I think).    I spent 2 days pulling up all that I could.  I'll have to do that several times, but progress is progress.  And there are some volunteers a 100 yard away.

6.  I have 2 toolsheds.  One I built when I moved here 32 years ago and one I had a contractor build (larger, with a cement floor, and a garage door).  I reorganized everything in both.  Now the equipment I seldom use is packed tightly in the old one and the stuff I use often is in the new one.  And I added shelves to the old one for odd stuff that was clutterring up the basement.

7.  I spread seeds for the meadow garden bed.  Some were saved seeds from last years plants and some were new from a packet.  Supposedly, they are are surface-germinators (well, like a natural meadow WOULD be).  I will be interested in seeing if the bed flowers better this year.

8.  The hummer/butterfly/bee bed was a failure last year.  So I tilled the whole area and spread a new batch of hummer/butterfly/bee seeds.  I also have a few dozen seedlings of the same sort to plant in there.  The seedlings will give the bed a head-start.

9.  I planted 15 annual sunflower seedlings in the meadow bed today.  They were weak last year when I did the same, so this year I planted them around a cylinder of mesh wire (anchored to a stake) and clipped them all the the cylinder.  That gives them 2' of support.  Strained my back doing all that bending-over...  I had 1 left over, so I planted it right behind the mailbox.  Maybe my mailperson will enjoy seeing it.

10.  I've been interested in grafted heirloom tomatoes for several years.  My efforts have always failed.  So this year, I bought 3 grafted tomatoes.  With shipping and taxes, $12 each.  OUCH.  But I really need to know if the effort is worth it.   I planted 2 today.  I have 6 graft attempts I did myself, but I won't know if they worked for a week.  At least THIS time, they are still alive after a week.  And I have 6 more home-grown ungrafted heirloom seedlings as back-up...

11.  I'm fighting some invasive plants.  I get poison ivy coming in from 3 neighbors.  They don't care about it because they don't go into the corners of their yards.  And there has been a vine from deliberate plantings of a 4th yard (2 residents ago).  I finally figured out it is Vinca Major.  It is almost impossible to kill.  My veggie garden is organic.  But I'll use napalm on the Vinca and poison ivy if I have to.  By "napalm" I mean Roundup.  I hate the herbicide, but the vines have taken over half my fence flowerbed.  I'm desperate.

12.  The daffodil/tulip/hyacinth bed is fading, so I gave them a good dose of organic fertilizer suited for bulbs.  That should help them improve for next year.  When the leaves turn brown I will cover the whole bed with landscape fabric to smother the weeds.  Next February, I will remove it.  I tried using regular black plastic last year but all it did was collect rainwater in low spots and Asian Tiger Mosquitos developed there.  So I was constantly going around and poking holes in the plastic to drain rainfall.  The landscape fabric is permeable, so it won't hold puddles.

13.  I planted corn in a bed under the roof edge.  It doesn't get much natural rain, so I'll have to water it regularly all Summer.  But it is rich soil and safe from wind, so the bi-color corn will like it.  I plant a block of 9 corns (3x3, fewer gets poor kernal development) and the bed is 4 blocks long, so I'll plant a new block every 2 weeks for continued harvest.

14.  I pruned my front yard saucer magnolia tree.  For some reason, the backyard one grows just fine with minimal pruning in Winter, but the front yard one grows oddly with lots of suckers and internal shoots.  By the time I was done, half the tree was gone, but it looked a lot better.  With careful future pruning, it should get more balanced.

15.  When I originally cleared the backyard back in the 90s, I discovered that I had a wild rose growing there.  It has small white flowers and a nice scent, and I think it is a 'Hawthorn Rose'.  Unfortunately, it looks just like a wild blackberry, and was overgrown with them among its canes.  I was sad to mow it down with the new DR Brushcutter I bought last year.  But I HAD to get rid of the wild blackberries.

Now, the main area in the backyard is cleared of wild blackberries, but there are some that spread to odd spots and I have to dig them out.

So when I saw white flowers suddenly blooming among a Burning Bush I love, I was depressed at the effort it would take to remove it.  But when I approached, there was The Scent!  The Hawthorn Rose had established itself 150' away from the original plant!

I have to remove it from the Burning Bush shrub, but I'm going to take 36 cuttings (a flat of 6-cels) and try to grow some first.  The rose never spread much from its original spot, so I'm not worried about it taking over like the blackberries did.  I can think of several spots where it would be happy (and I with it).

I think that is more than enough for today.  I still have the inside projects to discuss...

A Better Day

So the cement held on the pvc pipe repair.  And I pulled on it hard.  Good.  Now I just have to straighten and reinstall 2 others.

I plan to add more supports so that (hopefully) this doesn't happen again.  As best I can guess, enogh leaves fell on the chicken wire covering that the large snowflakes that fell didn't fall through it and accumulated enough weight to bend even the metal pipes in the pvc pipes.  I'll have to be careful about that in the future.

I built the structure with metal pipe inside pvc pipe because there were some complicated connections and metal pipes didn't offer those and pvc pipes did.

I still have some pipes to straighten.  But now that I've done the worst-bent one, the rest should be a BIT easier.  Not "easy" but "easier".  Part of the problem with the first one was that the temperature outside was close to the minimum 45F that the cement cures at rapidly.  The next couple days are supposed to reach the 70F mark (yay Spring) so I can do better with the other bent pipes.

So of course I wasn't sitting around just waiting for the temperature to rise.  I had planned for the brambles in the back 1/4th of the yard to be gone in Fall 2017, but the one guy I found who said he could do that THEN ended up in the hospital from a job injury (and decided to retire).  I did it myself last Fall (really brambly awkward work).  But I did it.

I had to do it.  I had 5 saplings to plant that I bought in Fall 2017 and had set in my garden "temporarily", LOL!  I went out to dig holes for them in Winter and it was like digging a hole in ice.  So I moved 4 of them Tuesday.  At least I could dig the soil.  I transplanted them carefully.  I LOVE my solid steel spade!  I sharpened the edge and it cuts through all soil and vine roots well. 

Today, I took 4 kitty litter buckets (I save them) and drilled a tiny hole in the bottom of each.  Why?  Well, when I fill them from the hose, they drip water slowly into the soil.  It soaks in rather than run off that way.  And I don't have to stand around 30 minutes soaking the area.  Plus, the buckets remind me where the saplings are so I won't mistake them for the junk saplings that spring up on their own.

More to do in the days to come of course, but that was a good start!

The Neighbor

I have to laugh.  I have not yet met the new neighbor.  But he/she has a lot of contractors doing a LOT of outside and inside work.  Which is good I suppose; means they care about the property

But I had to laugh because the contractors first trimmed up the trees 12" high.  OK, a little more light in my yard.

But then they came back and cut down every single tree in the yard (trimmed before or not) EXCEPT the only ones that shaded my yard.  It is to cry...

BUT, a little positive manipulation...  I talked to the Boss worker.  Told him he might score some points about this one tree.  A mulberry tree.  The berries fall on the ground.  You step on them and you stain the bottoms of your shoes.  Then you do inside and it stains the carpet.

That's true.  It is why I cut down mine years ago and where their's came from.  He said he would tell the owner.

If that doesn't work, I will point out to the new owner that the berries attract mice and rats.  Not that we HAVE rats around here, but the new owner won't know that. 

I am only slightly embarrassed about telling a fib.  OK, a lie.  But I sure would like that tree to be gone.

I wonder if I could bribe the workers...  Somewhere between $20 and $50?  $100?  They get paid by the hour for their work anyway...  And the more hours the better, right?

The House Next Door

Well, the house next door has been for sale for several months.  I have considered buying it as a rental property.  I don't really want a rental property, but there were reasons for this one.

1.  It is next door.
2.  I would like some control over who my neighbor is.
3.  I want to remove the trees shading my garden.
4.  I don't want a neighbor with dogs.
5.  I want to reclaim my property line.

Background:

The houses behind and on the other side are well separated from me.  This house is really close.  The trees shade my garden 1/3 of the day.  My cats like to wander in that yard, and if the new residents have dogs, that could be dangerous.  There are trees and invasive shrubs and vines I would like to get rid of.

When I built my fence 25 years ago, I set it inside my property line by a foot on the advice of my Dad (he said I needed to do that to assure I had a legal right to get on the other side to repair my fence).  It was bad advice; I essentially gave up that part of my yard through Common Law.  The neighbor at the time immediately built a small side fence that connected to mine, shutting me out.

The junk trees shade my yard, the row of forsythia I originally planted in naive ignorance as a property-divider invade my flowerbeds, and a maple tree planted in the side yard has sent surface roots ruining the lawn and making mowing like driving over railroad ties.  The roots are reaching my foundation.  I lose 3 hours of desperately-needed morning sunlight in my gardens, and I want the gardens.

Last Month:

I hesitated to bid on the property.  I don't think of myself as a "landlord".  I could do without the trouble involved.  My investments are uncomplicated; I have CDs and Index Mutual Funds.  I'm financially secure.  The "For Sale" sign was still on the property.

But I looked up "Buying A Rental Property" online at  few sites.  There are rental management companies that handle everything.  And being next door would be convenient for maintenance and repairs.  It wouldn't be as difficult as I thought, and if there were problems with the renters, I would know easily enough.

It's not for profit.  It's for protection and control.  Zillow suggests the house as a rental would pay for itself in 5-10 years free and clear.

I submitted a back-up bid on the property, but revoked it a week later thinking I had WAY overbid at $185,000.

2 Weeks Ago:

I called the seller ( foreclosure company).  They say the house was auctioned off last week.  DAMN, DAMN, DAMN, DAMN, DAMN!

I waited a week too long after 6 months of dithering about it.  I submitted a backup bid $10,000 above the apparent selling price i(the "earnest money" down payment was 5%, so I could calculate the purchase price) in case the auction sale falls through.    That would be trivial in the long run.  Zillow estimates the house to be $30,000 underpriced in 5 years. and that's not counting the rental income.  I probably couldn't have actually lost money buying it last month if I had tried.

Dear Deceased Dad made me hesitate.  He had a couple rental apartments and complained about them all the time.  But he didn't buy them for the reasons I wanted this property.  I should have realized that sooner... 

I don't want to go into money here too much, but I could just write a check for the house.  I bought stocks at the bottom in 2008.

My dithering has probably cost me decent sunlight, control over who my neighbors are (and some there have been bad - late night parties and constantly barking dogs), the ability to eliminate invasive shrubs and trees, and a decent investment (though I don't need it).

I'm probably going to regret not acting sooner, but I have no one to blame but myself!

Last Week:

I hoped the current sale fell through.  It was certainly bought as a rental.  Maybe I can buy it from the new owner.  Who wouldn't like a quick profit if it is merely an investment to them?  Or maybe I could pay the new owner to let me have those trees cut down at my expense.  I could even agree to replace them with small ornamental trees.

There are still some possibilities...  But I'm sitting here kicking myself for not having acted sooner.

Now: 

The sale to another went through and it turns out it was just $3,000 less than my backup bid.  I thought the highest bid was $157,500.  If I had left it, they MIGHT have found a way to accept my bid.  But the For Sale sign is gone, and I saw someone walking around the property looking like they owned it. 

Dithering and second-guessing yourself is the worst business decisions you can make.  I may never have another chance at controlling this property. 

Late Hard Freeze

This mild winter helped the Saucer Magnolias to build huge buds, full of promise.  The hailstorm last week knocked off a lot of buds, but most were left and it promised to be a spectacular flowering this year in spite of that.  Possibly the best ever.  The forecast was for no freezing remperatures for 2 weeks.

But surprises happen.  A twist of weather brought 2 nights of temperatures down to 20F.  They were all killed!

Absolute mush!

Not a single one will open.

Last year they bloomed nicely, but 2 weeks later.

 Here is the backyard tree over the fence gate...

And the early daffodils were good.

But they are all knocked down.  The flowers can stand the cold, but not the stems.

So sad...

Yardwork

The approach of Winter is pushing me to get some yardwork done.  My knee is about back to normal as long as don't kneel on something hard (walking is general fine again even stairs feel normal).

I have several projects to complete.  The major one is a 1/3 of the backyard that has become overgrown with ivy, volunteer saplings, and blackberries.  What a weird combination!

I attacked it 2x this week.  I can cut down the saplings with loppers (a few demand a saw), but getting at the blackberries is horrible.  They drape over in a circle, so every one I cut HAS to fall on me and grabs my skin and clothes like an angry cat.  I was spending more time getting each individual came loose from me than cutting them.

The area is 50'x65' and that is not going to work.  The job requires EQUIPMENT!  I priced those glorified gas-powered ground surface hedge-trimmers and decent ones start at $2500.  Not the best idea for something I'm not likely to use again.  So I called a couple of brush-hoggers.

One came by today.  He just cuts everything off at groundlevel.  A high-powered mowing and debris removal service.  That might be good enough depending on the price.  With that, I would have a clear area.  I have a good roto-tiller and used it back there once.

It's rough work, but if all that is left is 1" stubs and roots, it WILL tear them out and a regular mower will keep them cropped until the roots are exhausted and die.  I can handle THAT.

I would PREFER someone to come in with a small bulldozer and scrape the soil a couple inches deep, remove the plant debris, them spread the soil out smoothly.  I haven't found someone to do that yet.

Landscapers want to turn everything into lawn or planted areas with their own shrubs and flowers.   I don't want that.

Excavators just want to flatten everything in sight and leave the debris in place.  They really don't want to mess with removing piles of brambles.

Part of the problem is that it is a tricky area.  There is a 9' diameter pond needing a new liner and a 40' water raceway uphill that flows pumped water down into the pond.  They don't want to get close to that.

I may have to take what I can get and try to do what I can afterwards.  But at least on this, I am willing to pay someone to do the rough work.

This is all because I had some trees that were shading my garden removed.  As some as they were removed, the space under them received a lot more sunlight.  I knew I had ivy around, but the blackberries were a complete surprise.  They just erupted out of no where.  I assume the tree shade prevented them from growing before.

So here is my plan.  I have five 2' tall specimen trees (2 korean dogwoods and 3 sourwoods) that should grow only about 20' high.  They won't shade my garden.  But they shold shade the ground around them to replace the shade that kept the blackberries and ivy from growing.  The ground under the older taller junk trees was nearly bare.  I'm hoping for a return to that.

I will help the 5 specimen trees grow by surrounding them with scrap carpet.  Carpet lets water through but not plants up.  I done that with many shrubs and trees and it works great.

The trees I bought are not yet dormant.  I water them every couple of days waiting for the cold weather.

If it works, I will have lovely Spring and Fall small trees in the back, no wild growth, and no new shade on the garden. 

Yardwork Again

I wasn't sure I was gong to be doing much yardwork the rest of the year.  I usually try to do at least one useful thing each day.  Sometimes I don't, but that is the goal anyway. 

So when I twisted my right knee in early April, and it was difficult to walk the first couple of weeks, I grudgingly waited for it to heal.  I do these sorts of injuries every so often but generally heal quickly enough.  I'm used to it.  You live on your own, you push yourself to do more than you should sometimes, and there is the occasional time your body says hey ease off on me a bit. 

It has happened before.  10 years ago, I casually tossed a rock at a squirrel and strained my rotator cuff and I could barely raise my arm over my shoulder for 4 months!  But it healed fine and I kind of expect that.

But this time, April rolled into May, and May into June and eventually September and it was better but not normal.  Some projects got delayed.  I had planned to repaint the bathrooms and kitchen, but crawling all around washing the walls, putting tape along all the edges and then doing the actual painting seemed too awkward.  But it could wait.

I had also planned to use my gas-powered weed-whacker with the steel cutters to eliminate the backyard brush and brambles that sprung up after I had a few trees removed  several years ago.  That didn't happen.

A few weeks ago, my right knee suddenly felt much better.  Not perfect, but good enough, and I started some minor yard projects and felt ready to do more.  I got some work done.   Mostly de-clutterring the basement the computer room, and the cat room.

And then I went and did something to the left knee.  No idea what I did.  It felt like I had banged it against a door frame, but for 2 weeks, I had 2 bad knees.  I was worried I was sufferring some serious problem (like Lyme Disease affects your joints, or longer term problems like arthritis). 

But I woke up 2 days ago and the left knee was back to normal and the right knee wasn't bad.  I could walk around pretty much normal.

So I had found a sealed bag of grass seed in the basement left over from last year .  I mowed the front yard grass very short.  Today I raked all the loose grass and dumped it where I plan to put a flowerbed island around a large rock and tree in order to smother the grass and weeds and leave some improved soil.  Then I spread the grass weeds all around.  And then I spent 90 minutes carefully spraying straight down onto the grass to beat the grass seeds onto the soil surface and give them enough water to germinate.

It is a bit late to do that.  But I had the seeds and they won't last another year.  And we are having a warm spell, so the seeds should germinate if they are still viable.  There are 2 bare spots, so I will know if they germinate.  At least that is SOMETHING done.

And both knees felt just fine after all that.  So that's good.

The next things to do are planting Daffodils in mid November, tilling some dead areas of the flowerbeds, and eliminating weeds in the paths between the framed veggie beds.  

Are you familiar with those long strips of brown paper used as packing material?  I've been saving the longest strips for several years.  The stuff comes all twisted and crinkled, but I untwist it and lay in on the basement floor and use a push broom to flatten it out.  That works very well.  Then I fold it up in 4' lengths and put a piece of plywood on it to flatten it further and keep it out of the way.  I have several hundred linear feet of it now.

It seems like great stuff to put between the framed beds, on top of weedy dead sections of the flowerbeds, and on top of all the Spring bulbs to smother weeds (with shredded bark on top).  It will probably decompose by Spring, and in not, it will certainly be easy to pull up at planting time.

It may not kill all the weeds, but it sure won't do them any good.  I am reminded of a W C Fields vaudeville joke where he says he swallowed a few moths and said he swallowed a couple of mothballs to get rid of them.  The sidekick asks if it did any good.  Fields says "well it sure couldn't have helped them any".  (Do not do this at home, mothballs are toxic).

My point is that the brown paper cover is worth trying.  If it works, GREAT!  If not, it is easy to remove and will make good compostable material after 5 months exposure to rain and melting snow all Winter and early Spring. 

Gardeners might object that  covers the soil gives voles safe space to run around under.  I did cover part of my flowerbeds with black plastic 10 years ago, and they did love it.  They ate every tulip bulb, safe from predators.  But this time, there won't be anything for them to eat.  Well, the weeds, and if they want to eat the roots of those, they are not welcome, I encourage them.  Otherwise, they don't touch Daffodils or Daylilies (toxic to mammals), the Tulips and Hyacinths are in wire cages they can't get into, and the seeds from the birdfeeder will be on top of the paper where they waill actually have trouble getting to the spilled seeds. EVIL LOL!

So I am getting into the yardwork late, but not impossibly late.  The last project, which is to plant specimen trees that won't grow tall enough to shade my garden and flowerbeds is still in reach.  By "specimen trees", I mean Korean Dogwoods, Sourwoods, Wisteria shrubs, and Star Magnolias.  Those will shade out the brush and brambles like the taller trees used to do, but not cause shade problems across the yard.

I will surround the new trees with used carpeting.  That has really worked well for me over the years.  Rain soaks right through, but weeds won't grow up through it.  And it it is usually free.  Just look for some place being renovated and ask for the old carpet.  They will usually just give it away. 

OK, I'm off to buy some specimen tree saplings...

Back, I ordered 3 Sourwood trees and 2 Korean Dogwoods.  Sourwood trees are great in Fall.  They have small grapelike clusters of yellow berries and burgundy leaves and grow to about 25'.  The Korean Dogwoods are great in Springs, don't have the same disease problems as American Dogwoods, and spread sideways.  I have one on the shady side of the house that has been happily existing for 25 years at 20 feet, and I will take some tip cuttings next June.  It has pink flowers. The dogwoods I ordered have white flowers, so that will make a nice change.



I also filled in all the screw and nail holes in the main bathroom a week ago

Tree Removal, Day 3

By the end of yesterday, they had the oak tree completely cut down.  As I guessed, at some point they would simply cut off the trunk at the bottom and let it fall over.  It's sure easier to hold those big chain saws and cut down rather than sideways.

The rope at the top is so the guys can pull the trunk over away from the fence and deck.

And down it comes!

They went right at the trunk to cut it into manageable sections.

And there it is in pieces.  

Looks like one of those 6' party subs cut into individual parts...

The view is sure different!  There was sunlight on the ground where there hasn't been for at least a century.  

But it got a bit humorous after that.  The boss came by and told them to cut the stump lower because it would take too long to grind it all down.  Then he told me a stump grinder crew would by here "tomorrow" (today, now) for the grinding and final cleanup.  Then he left.

It wasn't the best decision he ever made.  They cut off 1' of the stump easily enough.

But the next foot drove them crazy.  And their problem baffled me too.  First, one guy cut all around the trunk as he had in the upper foot section.  But it just wouldn't come loose.  Well, his circle around the trunk was more of an upward spiral.   It was like 2 teams tunneling through a mountain and missing the meeting point by a few dozen yards.  So he went back at it.  And missed again...

This went on for 30 minutes.  I watched from the safety of the deck.  Far be it for me to tell them how to do their jobs.  Though I did wonder a bit watching one guy who didn't quite seem to know how to use the grabber point under the chain saw to lever it for best cutting and I saw another guy trying to give him advice.  I couldn't understand what they were saying (the crew is hispanic - more on that below).

Their problem baffled me at first.  I could see that the 3' chain saw blade could easily reach to the middle, and they had a couple wedges in place to keep the weight of the cut portions of the trunk from pinching the blade.

They finally tried wedging the uncut portion loose.  But they only had 2 wedges and that wasn't working.  So I went and offerred them my 5' iron breaker bar which they accepted gratefully.  Even that wasn't enough.

I could see from the deck that the cut section would rock east/west and north/south and I went down and showed them where the uncut part had to be.  Well, you don't have to be a tree removal expert to understand basic mechanics...  But I wasn't able to communicate that well enough with hand gestures.  So I tried another series of gestures suggesting they cut the top piece like a tic-tac-toe board so they could find the uncut part.  Now luck with that either...

Here's the part about my spanish-speaking ability.  I took Spanish in High School.  I could speak the written words well enough, and with a passable accent.  But that was 50 years ago, was mostly written, and I barely passed the class then.   So my ability to speak to the crew was limited.  I remember some phrases.  The most useful one for me is "Yo hablo muy muy poco Espanol" ("I speak very very little Spanish").  One guy asked "Como Esta?" (How are you"?) in the morning and it was an hour before I remembered the correct reply ("Estamos bien, gracias" - "I am well, thank you").   I used that to him later and got a smile and a thumbs up.  Well, at least he didn't laugh.  And when one of them waved at me and asked "agua?, I brought out a pitcher of cold water. 

So I watched them struggle with it for another 45 minutes.  I wish I had thought to bring out my laptop and use "google translate" to get some simple phrases that would have helped, but that only occurred to me after they left.

But they did finally manage to break the uncut part loose.  Do I need to say that the uncut part was exactly where I pointed to earlier? 

The 2nd half of Day 3 tomorrow...

Tree Removal, Day 2

Ok, actually, I'm starting with the work done yesterday.  The first day, they got the sweet gum tree removed, and the lower half of all the oak tree branches.  It looked like this after Monday...

I couldn't even close the fence gates to let the cats outside for the late afternoon.

The pictures of the guy climbing to the top of the tree didn't come out at all (drat) except for this one, and you can't see much there.

 But by the time he was done (took about 3 hours), it looked like this...

Then the bucket crane guy went to work again.

The trunk got lower and lower.  And when THOSE chunks hit the ground, the cats hid deeper in the bedroom.

Lower...

A piece falling, and that's 3' in diameter...

A dragonfly took advantage of the rope...

And I'll stop there for today.  The final pics tomorrow (I hope)!

Tree Removal, Day 1

This has been quite an adventure.  It's taken longer than I thought (or that the contractor estimated).  Part of the problem is that the "grabber" (the equipment that grabs chunks of cut-down trees in a huge metal jaw) developed hydraulic fluid problems, and in spite of their onsite attempts to fix it, it just wouldn't work properly.  Their other grabber was at another job today, but will be here tomorrow.

I've been taking pictures all of both days, and will be posting them here now and for a few days to come.  Here is the original view of the massive white oak...

They started with the sweet gum tree, since it was in the way of the large equipment.  I'm glad I wanted it removed, since they couldn't have gotten to the oak with it there anyway.

They cut off all the side branches first.

That tree was easy and they had it down in just over an hour.  That bucket crane goes REALLY high!

I got a nice action shot of them cutting the trunk down in pieces.

And there goes the rest of the trunk...

 The stump color surprised me.  The core is a small light brown area, then there is a dark area, then a light one.  It must have had some extremely different growing conditions that changed suddenly.  My guess is that the light area represents the tree getting a lot more sunlight after I moved in and had 2  shading big oaks removed.

But, it developed some problems later.  I suspected, and the cut sections showed, that the tree was dying from the top down.  So better it was gone now...

Then they started on the oak.  Now, these guys have see a LOT of trees, but even they were impressed!  I hated to have it removed, but it has been dropping more and more 6' diameter branches the past coule years, and I was becoming convinced it was dying and would fall over on the house (as the prevailing winds would blow it in that direction).

They cut off the smaller branches and push them in a safe direction.  The larger branches take a bit more preparation.  They tie a rope (which is looped up over higher branches) to the branch, twist the rope around the tree trunk (for friction), and then just one guy can can the cut branch from falling while releasing the rope slowly.  A couple other guys grab the branch near ground level and guide it to a safe landing (away from the house and fence).  I thought I had a picture of the twisted rope trick, but I guess that was one of the dozens of blurry ones I had to delete.

They use a neat knot I am familiar with from Boy Scouting called a "bowlin-on-a-bight" .  It makes a loop in a rope that it tight under weight, but undoes easily afterwards.  It is the knot commonly used to lift people from cliffs and such.  Its one of those "the rabbit runs into his hole, circles around, comes back up and then dives down again" kind of things.  There is an odd pattern of wrist looping movements that I recognized.

More tomorrow...