After an afternoon study break to see The 40-Year-Old Virgin (amusing), we set to the task of cleaning up the yard, so that the overdue lawn mowing might occur. Had lots of little sticks and branches scattered about the back yard, and one skinny branch that was probably eight or nine feet long; those all went to the forested area behind our property. Dave Trudell, our friendly and extremely helpful neighbor, gave us a much-needed assist on the front yard, bringing both his chainsaw and m4d tr33-c4rv1ng sk1llz to the party. It’s quite weird now to see the yard with only two of the three trees left in their grouping. Ironically, we have been talking about massively overhauling our landscaping at some point in the future; I guess yesterday’s storm just gave our time table a little kick in the butt.
The new view of the front yard, minus one tree.
The former home of Stumpy the Ex-Tree.
The carnage from the front yard, all gathered up.
Post-cleanup, the evening was almost entirely a disaster, as the washer decided to leak all over the litter box, I managed to fill the kitchen with smoke from our almost-irreparably charred steak, Julia sprinted around the house in circles with a dingleberry hanging from her butt, and Liz tripped and spilled most of a glass of red wine–partly on the carpet, mostly on her, and more than is comfortable went up her nose.
At least I have two brave cats to protect us from moths, crickets, and other night-time insect hooligans…
- Mood:tired
- Music:Delerium - “The Silence 2000 (DJ Tiësto Remix)”
Tags: cats house movies photos weather yard3 CommentsPrint This Post
3 responses so far ↓
Ok, I’m in a grumpy mood, so take all this with a block of salt.
And the best of intentions, though grumpy wording.
I’m not sure that dumping your tree and lawn bits in the forest behind your house is entirely wise or responsible. ABQ just had raging fires, what, last year? - I suspect because underbrush builds up. Fire’s a big deal up here, and they harp about it. It’s not good to have much available fuel (trees, brush, wood and grass waste) within about - was it 30 or 100? feet of the house.
Something worth thinking about and looking into. I’m sure you’re insured and all, but fire prevention is better than insurance claims.
taking my grumpy self off now…
Keep in mind that I live about a mile from one of the Great Lakes. It’s been 80-95% relative humidity since late May. This year we broke the snowfall record for recorded Cleveland history (over 106 inches!). Also, the forested area behind our property is on the other side of the creek that runs behind the houses on our block. Also, it’s already chock full of foresty stuff that is probably drier and infinitely more vast than a few armfuls of our small twigs and branches. Our house is in more jeopardy of catching on fire from being directly struck by lightning (as the house 2 doors north of us was a couple years ago) than of the forest getting all cranky and coming across the long back yard to get us. Heck, we’re more likely to have one of our trees fall over and smash into us. Or get hit by a tornado, since we seem to have those just west and east of us for about a week every year. But really, when I have near-death experiences two or three times a day because the people in this city have no clue how to drive, that is probably the way that Cleveland will take me out (or at least deprive me of significant property).
The lawn bits don’t get dumped back there; we mulch, so for the most part our lawn gets to eat itself.
I *do* appreciate the sentiment, though. IIRC the big fires in Durango got within about two miles of my folks’ house.
There’s something incredibly beautiful and serene about that picture of your cats. Makes me feel happy.