Lazy Sunday

c.Ginny was back for the weekend, and the kids took full advantage of a patient playmate.

Alexe took Annaliese for a girl date, and Caspian stayed home with c.Ginny and me.  He started out helping me with a project, but quickly opted for lounge time with Ginny instead.  I came back later to find him fast asleep in the same spot.

Ginny and I were chatting about a few of the wild spots around the house here.  (There aren't many, a.Kitty has landscaped and manicured almost everywhere.)  The right side of the driveway as you enter the property, however, was grown up, and if you looked closely you could see a number of nice oaks and maples that were being choked out by vines and scrub trees.


While chatting with a.Kitty and u.Randall, Ginny mentioned I was looking for something to DO, and they told her to let me loose.


I'm not sure they knew what they were getting into.  


This is what I did with my Sunday afternoon:


There was lots of prickly growth, dense brush, and over the years a few piles of brush and logs had been tucked away here to decompose out of sight.


There was lots of pulling, snipping, chopping, and picking up the logs and other brush piles.

Once all the big stuff was cut out and hauled to the side, and the logs and rocks were removed, I went over it with the lawn mower.  I did this in sections, giving myself a clean path to drag the next swath of vegetation out through.

Following the property line as it was defined by the neighbor's new fences, I was surprised at how large the piece of land is.  There was a second massive oak tree I hadn't even noticed back there.





I kept the young oaks and maples, a couple birches, and a few shrubs that look like they might be nice given the chance to grow beyond the tangle I found them in.  

There were a few evergreens that looked like they might make nice Christmas trees, or just add texture where they are.

The piles will make it to the dump in the next couple days, after they dry out and hopefully condense a bit.  Otherwise I'll be taking multiple trips.  There are a number of dead limbs that I still plan to take off the large oak right next to the driveway, those will turn into firewood and stack nicely.  All in all I had a great time, and felt very accomplished after a few hours of sweating.  It's been a while since I was able to DO something, and I was getting antsy.


I hope Kitty and Randall don't mind.  The change is a bit drastic.

Meantime the girls had a picnic in Portland, watched a baseball game, and went out for ice cream.

We wrapped the day with a walk to the beach to let me take a swim and cool down/wash off some of the grime, followed by a sushi dinner at home with c.Ginny.