Happy Monday - Things are Progressing

Yesterday was supposed to be a "yard clean-up and take things to the brush recycling center" day. Those days are generally not my favorite, and DH did a lot of the work on Saturday, leaving two large piles of brush next to the driveway to be loaded onto the truck for Sunday's recycling run. He needed me to spot him on the ladder, however, so that's how we started our Sunday - him perched on a ladder sawing off dead branches, and me making sure he didn't fall off. (Although what I would have been able to do except contact Emergency Services if he had fallen is a mystery). 

I bought a "Little Giant Ladder" at the State 
Fair more than a decade ago. Probably closer 
to two decades ago. It was one of the best 
things I've ever bought for the house. Great 
ladder - very versatile. I wish I had been able 
to get one size larger, but I got the weight that 
I could handle and carry, and it's pretty good 
for what we need. We do have an extension 
ladder when we need to get higher. 

In the early days of when we owned the house - so going back in time to the mid-1980's, my father-on-law would apply for one of the free trees that St Paul was giving its' residents. That year the selection was meager, and they decided on a Swamp Oak. DH thought it would be more like a standard oak tree, but it turned out to be a bit annoying. It got tall - real tall, and the lower branches die out, with leaves only on the upper branches. Not as attractive as we had hoped, but it's in a far corner of the upper yard, near the creek, so it's not really a problem. Still, he wanted as many of the dead branches sawed off as he could reach, to have more clearance for the yard in general. It was a LOT of branches and took more than an hour of ladder work. 

Our swamp oak is quite tall ane very well 
rooted into the edge of the yard near the drainage 
ditch, so the placement is actually excellent. 
However, see that bare trunk? This photo 
apparently shows one after the dead branches 
have been trimmed off. That's what we spent 
serious time doing, up the full length of the 
ladder, extended to its' full height. It was a LOT 
of dead branches that DH sawed off - he worked 
really hard on this project. It looks MUCH 
better now. 

Then we started cutting invasive branches from shrubs, and pulling poison buckthorn from areas where we were finding it (it's a hard one to truly get rid of), and eventually, we had some rather large piles of branches and brush to take to the recycling center. It ended up taking two VERY full loads back and forth (fortunately the center is relatively near by). It still was after noon before we were finally finished and back home. I indulged in a shower, cleaned up the several cuts and bruises I had sustained, and joined him in the back patio area for a nice "sit down and relax" time. Job well done! 

It was a busy day at the recycling center, but fortunately 
we didn't have a wait for a spot to back the truck into 
and pull our branches out of the back end. It did take us 
two trips out and back, though. We had that much brush 
to get rid of, and our Yard Waste bucket is filled to 
overflowing for our weekly pickup. 

This week and next we're on a normal schedule at work, but that final week of July is when Chickie will go to Montana for her family reunion and DH and I will be working a six-day week. I'm trying to figure out my schedule for those six days. Not having the ability to do my regular shopping or cooking, I'll have to have some things pre-done, but not too soon since my freezer space is quite minimal. Well, I've got two weeks to figure it out. I'll manage it one way or another - LOL. I hope you have a wonderful day and I'll be back for a faster post tomorrow on my way to my morning swim. Enjoy your Monday and Slava Ukraini.