Holiday Greetings!

Best wishes for a joyous holiday
with family and friends!

Changing Curb Appeal

About a month ago, one of our regular readers mentioned that they might not recognize the place on their next visit. It got me thinking about all of the work we have done and how different things look. So here are four photographs showing the entrance to the driveway and how it has changed over the past two years.

October 2007

June 2008

April 2009

June 2009

Garden Expansion - Part 1

We marked a rectangle. We started digging.
We found we'd drawn our rectangle around a rock.

-Dan.

Digging

We spent some time this weekend working on the Vegetable Garden Expansion project. This video/movie (I never know which term to use) shows some tractor digging in action. There's no sound and it's speeded up of course, as watching it is real-time might be a bit dull.

-Dan.

Fall Is Here

Tree Planting

Last month we planted a Prunus serrulata 'Kwanzan'. A Kwanzan Japanese flowering cherry tree. It took most of the day just to get the tree in the ground.

Here's our photo-documentary of the project:

Step 1. Mark Hole.
To make the tree bed circular, we used a piece of string and measured in all directions. Once we had the string in place, we marked it out using white spray paint. This made it very easy for Dan (the tractor operator) to dig in the correct area.

Step 2. Start Digging.
Dan used the backhoe on the tractor to dig out the tree bed. Because it was circular, it required frequent repositioning of the tractor, but it was MUCH easier than digging it out by hand!

Step 3. Remove Rocks.
Once the grass had been removed, Dan used the backhoe to dig out as many of the large rocks as possible. Once most of the rocks were out, we mixed in peat moss, compost, and a tree fertilizing soil.

Step 4. Add Tree.
Now that we had rock free, enhanced soil in the bed, we dug a hole and got ready to put the tree in it.

Step 5-7. Get the tree in the ground.
The tree was not that big, but it was still heavy and awkward to maneuver into position while simultaneously making sure that it stood up straight and that we did not accidentally damage any of its branches.

Step 8. Finish with rocks and wood chips.
Because we planted the tree on a slight hill, we thought it would look more finished if we terraced it with a rock edge. This allowed us to level off the dirt around the tree and add some fresh wood chips from the chipper. There you have it - a beautiful new addition to the yard.

Can't wait to see the flowers in the spring!

One Stop Rock Shop

Got rocks?

Whitewater Kayaking

Erin and I recently enjoyed a fabulous week of whitewater kayaking in the Great Smoky Mountains. Each day we spent six or more hours on the water, and needless to say, it was another physically demanding trip. Over the week we received instruction on whitewater skills and techniques. We used lake sessions to work on Eskimo rolls and rescue skills, before running rivers and putting those skills into practice.

The progression from lake to river was fast. More than once I found myself riding the rapids upside down in my boat before being rescued. The week culminated on Thursday when we ran an 8 mile section of the Nantahala River, including the class III Nantahala Falls.

Here's Erin in action:

Now we can't wait for our next whitewater adventure.

Young Bunny

The baby bunnies are getting bigger. Now a regular visitor to our vegetable garden, this one even knows where the gate is. There's only so much one little bunny can eat, right?!

Attack of the Baby Bunnies

So my Saturday started off like any other Saturday. I had some breakfast, went on a run, and then went to check on the garden. It hadn't rained for several days so I decided to give all the plants a good watering. As I was walking along the side of the garden, something moved near my foot. The creature was small and rodent-like and at first I thought maybe a mole was running around the garden, but on closer look, I saw that it was a very small, baby rabbit!

My first thought was: how did this rabbit get into the garden? My second thought was: I better go and get my camera so I can document it for the blog! So I ran off to get the camera and on the way back I noticed that there was a second, small rabbit outside the garden. I tried to chase it away from the garden, but instead the little bugger darted right under the fence and into the garden! Grrrrrrr, but at least I saw how they were getting in (I thought) and could fix that, so I rushed back into the garden and started trying to chase TWO rabbits out.

Well let me just say that the "chasing" did not go very well. Instead, I ended up running in circles as two tiny rabbits ran in and out of vegetables. But then, one of the very little rabbits decided to try to dart through my bean trellis and got stuck in the mesh. It was awful! I wanted them out of my garden but I certainly didn't want to strangle the poor thing, so I rushed off to get my garden pruners. It was still stuck when I got back and I thought I would have to cut it out, but by holding the mesh taut, the little rabbit was able to squeeze its way through. Here is a photo of the little rabbit running in the garden:

As soon as the rabbit was loose, it bolted out of the garden and jumped right THROUGH the fence, and then I knew how they were really getting in! With that realization, I decided it was futile to continue the chase, so I returned to watering and what should I find but this:

A tiny rabbit sound asleep between my rows of carrots. This guy was so relaxed that I literally had to give him a prod to get him moving on his way! He did finally start moving and I think that the other rabbit also finally left the garden. Perhaps I tormented them enough with the chase that they will not return or perhaps I shall see them again tomorrow.....

Potato Update: Part II

I can't believe how well the potato plants in our very first potato barrel have grown! A handful of seed potatoes have gone from this:

To this:

To this:

Now we are just hoping that the actual potatoes will be as impressive as the plants!

Moving Dirt - Part 2

We finished the initial phase of moving the dirt this week and now we have an immense dirt pile covering a wide area with trees on both sides. Now the question we need to answer is, what exactly are we going to do with all that dirt?

I decided my first task was to forge some kind of road or track over the top of the pile so I could get the tractor to the far side which had now become inaccessible. Fortunately the dirt has been placed into a low lying area of land, so the nearside of the pile is almost level with the existing ground. This meant I was able to reverse the tractor onto the pile without too much difficulty. In this position I was able to use the back-hoe to move rocks and somewhat level the dirt behind the tractor. After one small section was clear, I slowly reversed the tractor further onto the pile began working on the next area to extend my track one section at a time.

After a while I was nearing the far side of the pile where the dirt sloped down towards the ground. By this time I just wanted to make it to the other side, so I probably didn't spend as much time leveling the dirt as I could have, and instead I rolled the tractor down the sloping edge of the pile and declared success.

In my new position I was able to look back at and admire the track across the pile that I'd just created. It looked good, except for one thing. The slope that I'd just come down looked rather steep and muddy from this angle.

The tractor and I were stranded. After an attempt to drive back up onto the pile from the far side, my suspicion was confirmed. The slope that the tractor had so easily rolled down was far too steep, loose, wet, slippery, and muddy to drive back up. The tractor and I were officially stranded on the wrong side of a massive dirt pile with no escape route.

Some deep tire ruts had now developed in the slope from my failed attempts to get back onto the dirt pile. In an effort to improve a worsening situation, I spent some time moving more dirt onto the slippery slope, to fill in the ruts and reduce the steepness. This achieved limited success as the dirt was so wet and muddy it was turning into a swamp around me.

Eventually I decided that rocks where the answer to my problem. So next I spent some time placing rocks into the muddy tire ruts on the slope. This was to provide something more solid and less slippery for the tires to grip onto. My first attempt at driving on the rock tracks had limited success, but it was an improvement on my prior attempts, so I continued adding more, bigger, rocks.

Finally, with all four wheels spinning and the engine at full throttle I was able to use the now embedded rocks to slip-slide my way up the slope and back onto the pile, phew! With the tractor now back on the pile, I began to find myself wondering if I'd be able to do that again... but I quickly dismissed that idea and decided that I should call it a day.

I drove across the mud-road, off the pile, and headed towards the house.

Tire Ruts on the Mud Road.

Post Transformation

This past weekend, I finally tackled another project that has long been on our "to do" list: cleaning rust off the deck supports and re-painting them with RustOleum. Dan's mom helped us get started on the project during their recent visit and I thought it best to finish the task before we moved on to other things. This video shows the transformation of the posts from unbelievably rusty to clean and freshly painted.

Moving Dirt

I used to think that we just couldn't get enough dirt, but now I'm beginning to change my mind.

We've started moving a huge mountain of dirt from our neighbors house across the road to ours. So far we've spend about 3 hours loading a truck one one side of the road, driving across the road, dumping the load, and then going back for more. I'm guessing we managed about 3 or 4 truck loads per hour. And we're only about 1/3 of the way through the pile.

Loading.

Unloading.

I know what you might be wondering... what are we going to do with all that dirt?

Sneaky Rabbits!

The pesky rabbit problem continues. And they are sneaky too. I chased this one away twice before it returned for a third time when I wasn't looking.

Erin will not be happy when she sees this.

Pesky Rabbits!

For some reason, this spring has seen a increased amount of rabbit activity. We first noticed parts of the front lawn torn up where they have are trying to start new burrows, and I managed to snap the shot above on my camera phone while mowing the grass! Well, this morning I looked out of the front windows to see a strange clump of grass in an odd place. By looking through the binoculars I was able to identify a fluffy gray clump of grass and fur, those damn rabbits! On closer inspection, sure enough it was the start of a new burrow, only about 6 inches deep, with a big clump of dry grass and rabbit fur stuffed in the top, ready for nesting, no doubt. I found a nice big rock and shoved it over the hole while cursing the damn rabbits.

The problems continue. This evening I got home and started a work-out session on the Elliptical trainer that sits in front of a glass sliding door at the back of the house. Well, 24 minutes through my session, I'm looking out the window and guess what I see? A pesky rabbit hops across in front of the window from left to right! I sigh and continue my workout. A couple of minutes later I see the rabbit again, this time it's hopping the other direction, from right to left. I'm surprised and after another minute or so of deliberation, I hit the pause button and open the door. I step outside in the direction the rabbit went, guess what I see? There's a rabbit hopping straight towards me. He sees me and stops. I do the same. Then he turns and starts hopping away. I give chase towards the woods, and then around the yard. I'm almost within reach, and then it diverts into the woods. Argg.

I'm out of breath walking back towards the house, and guess what I see?! You guessed it. There's a rabbit hopping across the driveway past the garage doors. This time I don't chase, just keep walking and it casually hops past the flower bed, across the grass, and into the woods. Next I go and check the burrow from the morning, and sure enough, there's been fresh digging around the rock. I see another rabbit near the end of the driveway, but it's too far away to chase, so I go back inside and finish my work-out.

With the work-out complete, I step out the sliding glass door again and start walking toward the flower bed, and guess what I see? A rabbit hops out of the flowerbed and onto the grass in front of me! And then, not one, but two more rabbits jump out beside the first. Arrgg! I stare at them as they stare at me, and I'm wondering what I might do next. I don't have time to formulate a plan. One by one, they cross to the other end of the flower bed and head back toward the woods, again.

I think we might have a rabbit problem.

Potato Update

About three weeks ago, we started the great potato experiment when we planted our very first potato barrel. So far things are going great! Our little seed potatoes fresh from Maine have gone from this:

To this:

I have stared building up hills around the base of each plant. Can't wait to taste those potatoes!

We've got mail!

Last fall we decided to install a split rail fence at the end of the driveway and this spring we added a second section. With the nice new fence in place, the old mailbox was starting to look a little shabby, so we decided to upgrade.
We selected a sturdy wooden post with a decorative knob to replace the plastic base, and we chose a simple black mailbox to match the soon-to-be-installed driveway lights.
The newly installed mailbox is a huge improvement over the original. It even has a flag, so we can leave outgoing mail for the postman.

Next step: planning for the mailbox landscaping!

Happy Birthday Blog!

Today our blog is one year old. :-)

The Potato Barrel

In addition to all of the usual garden treats, this year we decided to try our luck with potatoes. Luckily, we had an old whiskey barrel that seemed like the perfect place to try our first planting. Unfortunately, we were too late to buy seed potatoes from the local nursery, but I was able to fine an excellent source of certified organic seed potatoes through Wood Prairie Farm based in northern Maine. I ordered the potatoes on a Tuesday, they arrived on Saturday, and this is what we got:

We took the potatoes out of the bag and let them warm for a few days so that they would begin to sprout. We had already prepared the barrel, so today we finished off the job and planted the seed potatoes.

If all goes well, we will have our first crop of potatoes later this summer and into the fall. If things really go well, we might even start our own organic potato farm. Dan was very excited at the prospect of buying a hiller attachment for the tractor.....

Feeding Time

The four Eggs! are now four hungry little chicks. Mr and Mrs Robin have been making endless trips to and from the nest with snacks for this rowdy bunch.

Cleaning House

Over the past year, the north side of our house has become progressively covered in thick green mold. We bought a power washer last summer and cleaning off the side of the house has been on our to do list for a long time. This weekend we had planned on working on the deck, but unfortunately the weather did not cooperate. So instead, I took the opportunity to clean off the house. It was so satisfying!

Here are the before and after pics.

Un-Stumped!

In my Stumped! post you will remember that I was having a little trouble removing a big tree stump. Well, I'm pleased to say that the stump is no longer a problem. We rented a stump grinder for the day and after several hours grinding, the stump was reduced to dust.

In fact, we took care of two other smaller stumps as well. The large stump took about 4 hours to grind, a second stump took about an hour, and the smallest one about 30 minutes. It was quite a work-out.

Eggs!

Spring is here and the local birds have been very active. Just like last year, an American Robin has built a nest under our deck.

Note that an American Robin (commonly known as a "Robin" in North America) is not closely related to the European Robin (commonly known as a "Robin" in Europe).

Anyway, we noticed that after building the nest a couple of weeks ago, Mrs. Robin is now spending a lot of under our deck.

We checked the nest today and it now holds 4 blue eggs.

Check back soon for an update.

Shed Design

I've been thinking about building a shed. Here's a SketchUp for one possible design. Not sure how to actually build it though. There isn't a button for that.

Stumped!

I've spent the past couple of weekends trying to dig out a big old tree stump. I've dug down a couple of feet around the stump, and broken through most of the roots.

Today I thought it was about time to wrap a chain around it and give it a pull. I attached the chain to the back of the tractor and took up my driving position. I pressed the gas peddle. The tractor edged froward taking up the slack in the chain, and then, stopped.

I pressed the gas harder and the engine revved, but the stump wouldn't budge. Not even an inch. I tried several different angles and chain configurations, all with the same result.

Maybe I need a bigger tractor. :-)

Backhoe in Business

After disconnecting the backhoe from The New Tractor a couple of weeks ago, I've been busy with the following:

• wrestling with ceased fittings
• removing hoses for replacement
• removing two leaking cylinders to be rebuilt
• replacing a broken union fitting
• replacing the oil filter
  
• getting hydraulic oil just about everywhere
• making a big mess
• putting everything back together (harder than taking it apart)

Now the backhoe is back on the tractor and we're back in business! I've started digging around a big tree stump we want to remove to make way for another project...

Spring is here!

Spring is here and the daffodils are in bloom. As you may remember, I spent a weekend in October planting hundreds of daffodil, iris, and lily bulbs (Bulbs, bulbs, and more bulbs). Well, the daffodils are blooming and they are beautiful!

There is nothing more cheerful than coming home each evening to rows of brilliant, yellow flowers.