Spring Day Projects

When February surprises you with ONE day of Spring I had to take advantage and check off two projects on my to do list. It was not even 1pm yet and when I glanced at my watch it was 67° while wearing a t-shirt doing these two projects. It felt great. Henry was loving today's weather.

Looking back in my blog for the last time I used my pressure washer, it was over a year and a half ago since the garage had been pressure washed. It was time.

I had to read the manual first just to refresh my memory on how to operate the washer but all the steps were quite simple. It probably took more time hooking the washer to the hose, the hose to the house faucet in front and moving the car and lawn mower out to the driveway. A lot of dirt. Some of the stains were from one FJ I had and one old VW I had in the past. Believe it nor not, the hardest stain to clean up with that high pressure water was Watson's vomit, the night he was "sicker than a dog". 

It is times like this I wish I had the big floor squeegee. I have a few low spots in this floor, so I used a shop broom first to kind of thin out the puddles then a regular broom. It should be dry by the end of the afternoon to be able to pull the car and mower back inside.

The plan was to cut every sapling, bush, and thorns at or close to ground level. I didn't think it would take too long with my new reciprocating saw, that I bought just for this. I worked from the bottom of the berm upward. As I cut stuff I mashed it over horizontally as close to the ground as possible. Now I need to find someone that wants to make some cash hauling it all way.

Any of the bigger limbs were cut up but were fallen during the snow/ice storm we had a few weeks ago when the power was out for five days.

Every thing you see there and along the berm is cut close to ground level. I did cut some saplings over 6' tall. 

I would like to burn all of that but I fear the massive amount of heat would harm my fence being so close to it. Plus from past experience at my other house up north, fires like that catch the larger trees on fire. A spark might jump over into the cornfield. So, the safest thing to do is hire someone to haul it all way. It is all cut for them and is just laying there.

I was done by 1:15pm with both projects and clean up ... so the hounds, dogs and I moved out to the patio to enjoy today's sunshine and weather. I had all the windows open in the house which was nice for a change. As we sat there on the deck, the sounds of a tree cutting service and their wood chipper were about a block away.

With any foreign smells or sounds, people or dogs I now have two bloodhounds that like to guard the yard and me ... they bay in stereo now. A left and a right speaker filled with bloodhound baying. I did hear a dog barking and the sounds of the tree crew but didn't see the large white dog (Charlie) two houses away. 

At first by the way they sprinted off the patio deck to the fence I thought squirrels were too near the fence but I did not see one squirrel.

Cletus has been here about three months and I still can't get him to gain some weight. Last summer he lived a couple of weeks on the streets in a different town than here, as a stray, before they could catch him. The trainer had him for a couple of months and had him up to 94 pounds when I picked him up in November. He has gained some weight since he has been here but not as much as I thought he would.

I might start feeding Cletus puppy food, which is more protein more fat. Or I could have Domino's pizzas delivered for him ... I bet he would love that. LOL

Once it is warmer on a consistent basis all the end pieces to the deck are going back in, with a little glue added. The two I did on the other side months ago have held up well plus Henry and Ava seem to have grown out of their chewing stage. Yes, Henry is over 4 years old but he enjoyed pulling those end pieces out and using them as his bones.

I wonder at times if Ava needs a new owner. I walk her, do a little training with her and she gets plenty of daily running at full speed in the backyard but I don't seem to do enough activities for her to keep from getting bored and to tire her out. She is always on the go, energized. 

It is rare that Walter will drink outside water ... the heat wave must have made him thirsty today.

This is Cletus a few steps after leaving the water bowl. I have never seen a hound or dog that can drink water non stop for as long as he can. He never comes up for air and just keeps drinking.

Looking up today to see where that tree limb fell from that ended up in my side yard during the snow storm, I realize this much of the neighbor's oak tree is hanging over my fence ... from the right side of these three pictures were above my fence. I was standing right next to the fence when I took these three pictures, looking above my head.

Can you see where the tree limb broke off?

Eventually they will fall. That bigger limb concerns me the most. The others will take about an hour to cut up and carry to the berm. I hope it is years from now. 

I just checked the garage floor and it is drying right on schedule. A lot of progress had been made in the past hour.

One tidbit --- USAID funds Rockefeller Institute, which is funding the pro-Hamas protests in campuses across the USA. 

It has been a beautiful day here in "the tropics" of Southern Indiana.