I'm sure everyone knows that nationwide, this has been an odd, really warm winter. Here in Utah, on December 30, I was out in the backyard with the mulching mower grinding up leaves for compost, after raking up all the fall leaves. Better yet, I was wearing a short sleeved t-shirt and that was enough to keep warm.
The rest of the winter was pretty much the same. Very little snow, very little cold. February was wonderful. Lots of warm weather, sun and blue skies. Even more so in March. By early March I was ready to plant flowers and pull weeds. I was getting twitchy with the need to get my fingers in the dirt. The head knows it is too early, but oh the heart. The heart wants spring.
So what do you do? You do the next best thing. You trim. Leaves are not yet out, the bones of the trees are exposed--get out the chain saws!
Luckily for me, David has a chain saw on a stick. The stick is a 15 foot pole, so he can reach high up and cut where I point. It's great to have a brother with tools. Jack has a regular chain saw, and I have loppers and clippers.
The first tree on my list was a 50+ year old apple tree. It was
extremely overgrown, suckers all the way through the tree, in some
cases, the suckers were bigger than the branches. Not only that, it was
growing straight up trying in vain to find light since it was surrounded
by large trees.
We starting cutting and may have gone a little too far. We took it down
to nothing but the big main branches. Then we started on all the volunteers: elms,
wild cherries and Russian olive trees planted by birds or the wind. At
the end of the day we had a huge pile of limbs in the yard.
You can see the apple tree behind the pile. It looks like we pollarded it. Wait! We did.
While David was cutting the high stuff, Jack was cutting down another very old, dead apple tree.
We called to rent a green waste trailer, but there were so many limbs we thought we should cut them into smaller pieces to make sure everything fit. We spent the next week cutting the big pile into little piles. We worked on it every evening after I got off work. We only get the trailer for three days, so we had to be ready for it. And I was hoping we could get the entire pile in the trailer and add more.
I almost hated to see all these piles go. An unexpected benefit was the wild life that showed up. First the birds loved the big pile. Towhees and quail loved poking around the bottom and inside the pile. Juncos, chickadees and finches loved flitting around the top. The pile was so full of birds it looked alive.
After we chopped it up into all the little piles, the deer came in droves and chewed the tender ends. They would also pull branches out of the pile leaving us with yet another mess to clean up.
I admit, the deer have lost their novelty. The other night we had 15 deer munching their way through the yard. Too many! Now I'm researching ways to keep them out of the yard. How on earth can I plant a garden or have flowers with this many deer? And about half of them are pregnant. Great.
What you can't tell from the piles in the photo above is just how large some of the logs are. Did I mention we were trying to tame a jungle?
Jack and I were loading up the last truckload of branches when we heard the chain saw going in the front yard. I looked up over the roof in time to see a huge branch from the flowering crab apple fall. You should have seen me scale the rock wall to get to the front yard.
I had mentioned to David that if we had enough room in the dumpster, there were a couple of trees in the front yard that I wanted trimmed or taken out. He already had started on more trees and Jack and I were already tuckered out.
But a couple of hours later, we had all those chopped up as well. David had to stand on top of the bin and stomp everything down so we could get the bin covered.
Funny. We took so many trees out, and trimmed out so many others, I was worried about it might have been too much. But now that it is all cleaned up and gone, I only see how many more there are to trim and/or remove.
Typecats. It looks like a typo for typecast. There is a large saw in the backyard that originally was hooked up to the steam engine and used for cutting trees into lumber. Over the years it has acquired all kinds of things stacked on top of it. It's the family way--any flat spot....
I was working outside with David and noticed that there were type galleys stacked on the table part of the saw. Sure enough, there was even type in the trays. The trays were extremely rusty and everything was covered with pine needles, dirt, mud dauber nests and who knows what else. I picked the biggest pieces out, and blew as much dirt as possible off, then brought them inside. What better way to spend the evenings than sorting type.
Thus began the treasure hunt. I found three sizes of Rosetti, complete with the alternate swash caps!; a font of Tudor Black, which is similar to an old english style; a partial font of an all cap face that I have yet to identify; and I'm still working on a pretty script that I have not identified yet either. I was out on the balcony looking for an empty case to put these in, and found a case that had Clearcut Shaded caps. Ooh! Very nice! So much type and so much clean up needed!
But back to the typecats. I was using a high trestle table for sorting and had set it up in front of a picture window. The cats loved it! They could sit, lie, sleep on the table, watch birds, lash their tails at the deer, it was a dream come true. Except that the galleys were in the way. Did it matter? Nope. If a piece of type was poking them, they would pick it up and drop it off the table. So kind. Bela didn't mind hanging over the edges of the steel trays. Phin, being smaller usually found a way to fit in between the trays.
As I sorted the type into smaller cases and emptied the galleys, both cats wanted the same space. We had to referee some spats that included leg biting and head slapping. You can clearly see that there is plenty of room for both cats, but one must be king of the castle.
I had an epiphany of sorts today. Ever had the experience when you are talking to someone and you say something that you had not before articulated, and it stops you dead in your tracks, as you may not have realized that you had reached that point? Wow, that was a convoluted and confusing sentence.
Let me explain. I met Vern, one of my Dad's oldest friends for coffee today. I've known him for almost as long as I am old. He is well aware of all the challenges I face in rehabbing this house, reclaiming a yard from the jungle it has become and just the state of living here. My surprise came when I heard myself say that I had reached a zen state about the house--that I was totally calm and relaxed about what has to be done.
I said that out loud, and inside my mind was just whirling, thoughts along this line: Oh my! That's true. When did that happen? How come I have not verbalized that before? Did I only realize it as I said it? When we moved into the house in December, all I could see were all the items that need to be repaired, replaced, or even remodeled. Old kitchen, original floors, really leaky windows, every wall needing a new coat of paint-- the list was and is huge.
As we began unpacking and getting more of our belongings put away the need to rush into fixing up has taken a back seat to the happiness of being here. Yes, I am still working on clean up and organizing, but all the urgency is gone. We have reached a laissez faire doctrine with the house. When and if is enough. What a great place to be.
Every morning I get up, pour a cup of coffee and smile. I look out the kitchen window and tell Jack (for the umpteenth time) how happy I am to be here. I. Am. So. Very. Happy. Might as well throw a bit of joy in there too! Happy happy joy joy.
But, don't think that means we haven't been working, it just means that the pressure is no longer there. We have evenings where we do nothing, but wander from window to window watching the deer come down the mountain, eat their way across the Stoker's yard then meander across the street into our yard, where they jump the fence and wander around our yard, eating sunflowers out of the bird feeder, drinking out of the birdbath and occasionally coming up on the porch to look in the window. How could anyone ignore all that free entertainment?
In February I was able to spend a couple of weekends in the shop. Yea! Unpacked some boxes, did some organizing and clean up, and even was able to get two pieces printed for the APA March bundle. Can I even convey how amazing it was to be able to walk out to the shop and be surrounded by so much good stuff? All my quilter friends with their copious stashes and supplies would understand.
My office is downstairs. The stairs are raw wood. They have never been painted or finished in any way. Since I am now up and down them several times a day, I think about the stairs. I was sport shopping in my local hardware stores (I adore hardware stores) and saw a revolving rack filled with small bottles of paint samples. Well! That was an opportunity waiting to happen.
Went home, washed the stairs a couple of times, years of ground-in dirt came out. Then I painted. The actual treads are stained not painted. I was taken with the name Oriental Ginger. The painted risers are a slight problem. Until I painted them, I never realized how often the heel of my shoe hits the riser as I go downstairs. There are lots of black scuff marks there now. But it make me smile when I climb upstairs. I still need to paint the walls, but I haven't decided whether to go bright white to add light to a dark stairway, or to go outrageous.
