catch up . . .
I finally finished reading the book Outlander just hours before the Book Club gathering. Two weeks before the meeting I was only on page 130 and was sure I wasn’t going to finish it so I kind of put it aside and was just going to tell them hadn’t finished the book. But in all fairness, I have to say it did get a lot more interesting and by the weekend with only four days to go and over 700 pages left to read, I all of a sudden thought I’m not going to let this book get the best of me and became determined to finish it. About midnight Tuesday night I read the last page. It was a lively discussion the next day and I’m so glad I read it all. Plus I think I would like to read the other six or so Outlander books in the series someday, (I am interested now in the characters and what happens to them) but not through book club. It’s hard for me to do force reading like that on such a long book. I love to read, but to do it at my own pace. Anyway, the next Book Club in September will be at my house and the book is called “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Has anyone read it? I got the book, but haven’t had time to start it yet.
Pete took all the hedges out in front of the house. A few weeks ago he started saying/complaining that he could not sit in the living room and see out the front windows because the Ilex hedges had grown so high. They are the only windows in the house where you can see what is going on out front and he likes to sit on the couch in front of the windows or in his chair and keep an eye on the street and what is going on out there. He has trimmed them back dozens of times over the years to keep them at windowsill height, but they have been getting scraggly and leggy the last couple of years and he has talked about taking them out. We planted them 17 years ago as little shrubs and they have served us well as a great looking hedge.
I told him the only way I would approve is if he hired someone to do it. His reply was a horrified, "Oh no.....I'm doing this myself! I can do each one in about five or six cuts and be done in about an hour!" This is the way he always thinks, that everything will be easy and quick and uses the term "5 minutes" quite often.
Our temps have been in the 90s and very humid, but he continued on for several days until they were all cut back and then proceeded to tie the stumps to the truck with a chain and pull the roots out. After two truck loads to the greenery dump and it is all done. It really looks bare out there now and I think we are just going to live with it that way until the weather cools off.
Half done - 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. the first day . . .
Roots out and ready to load for the dump on third day . . .
Today we celebrated Maria’s 21st birthday! I can hardly believe she is 21 and how quickly the years have passed.
We got slammed by Tropical Storm Emily last week. When we went to bed Sunday night there was only rain forecast for the next few days. We woke up Monday morning to a depression that quickly turned into a tropical storm with lots of rain and winds. A tornado came through our area with winds up to 80 mph. A large nursery and the local Farmer’s Market got a lot of damage and they are just a few streets over from us. Lots of trees got uprooted and the house beside us had a huge tree uprooted in their front yard and it fell over on their car. We got nine inches of rain altogether in just a day! You can hear the chainsaws running all around everyday, and lots of extra trash pick up going on, too. We didn’t have any major damage, just some broken limbs and things blown around, plus major cleaning out of the trees. We got over 10 trash bags of debris mostly from the back yard.
Orban's Nursery . . .
Geraldson's Roadside Market . . .
I feel so bad for them. They are all such good people there.
With all that’s been going on I haven’t had much time to really get into handpainting my photographs yet. I did get some supplies and just have to find the time now to sit down and begin.
Pete took all the hedges out in front of the house. A few weeks ago he started saying/complaining that he could not sit in the living room and see out the front windows because the Ilex hedges had grown so high. They are the only windows in the house where you can see what is going on out front and he likes to sit on the couch in front of the windows or in his chair and keep an eye on the street and what is going on out there. He has trimmed them back dozens of times over the years to keep them at windowsill height, but they have been getting scraggly and leggy the last couple of years and he has talked about taking them out. We planted them 17 years ago as little shrubs and they have served us well as a great looking hedge.
I told him the only way I would approve is if he hired someone to do it. His reply was a horrified, "Oh no.....I'm doing this myself! I can do each one in about five or six cuts and be done in about an hour!" This is the way he always thinks, that everything will be easy and quick and uses the term "5 minutes" quite often.
Our temps have been in the 90s and very humid, but he continued on for several days until they were all cut back and then proceeded to tie the stumps to the truck with a chain and pull the roots out. After two truck loads to the greenery dump and it is all done. It really looks bare out there now and I think we are just going to live with it that way until the weather cools off.
Half done - 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. the first day . . .
Roots out and ready to load for the dump on third day . . .
Today we celebrated Maria’s 21st birthday! I can hardly believe she is 21 and how quickly the years have passed.
We got slammed by Tropical Storm Emily last week. When we went to bed Sunday night there was only rain forecast for the next few days. We woke up Monday morning to a depression that quickly turned into a tropical storm with lots of rain and winds. A tornado came through our area with winds up to 80 mph. A large nursery and the local Farmer’s Market got a lot of damage and they are just a few streets over from us. Lots of trees got uprooted and the house beside us had a huge tree uprooted in their front yard and it fell over on their car. We got nine inches of rain altogether in just a day! You can hear the chainsaws running all around everyday, and lots of extra trash pick up going on, too. We didn’t have any major damage, just some broken limbs and things blown around, plus major cleaning out of the trees. We got over 10 trash bags of debris mostly from the back yard.
Orban's Nursery . . .
Geraldson's Roadside Market . . .
I feel so bad for them. They are all such good people there.
With all that’s been going on I haven’t had much time to really get into handpainting my photographs yet. I did get some supplies and just have to find the time now to sit down and begin.