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. :-)