Well that was over quickly. The baby wrens are gone already. Trying to think of something positive:. Wrens are very prolific here. There are no rats, mice, squirrels, roaches, and who knows what else, in the barn. I didn't have to spend 3 weeks worrying. Reminds me of part of a Robert Frost Interview I just watched this weekend. KORNITZER: Can a man, as sensitive to nature as you are, believe that nature is essentially kind? FROST: I know it isn’t kind. ... Nature is always more or less cruel. Should I tell you what happened once on the porch of a professor--- minister he was, too? The war was going on, beautiful moonlit night. And he was there with some boys and talking about the horrors of war, how cruel men were to each other and how kind nature was, what a beautiful country this was spread beneath us, you know, moonlight on it. And just as he talked that way, spreading his arm over it, a bird began to shriek down in the woods; something had got into its nest. Nature was being cruel. And the woods are all killing each other anyway. That’s where the expression came from "a place in the sun," a tree wanting a place in the sun that it can’t get, the other trees won’t give it to it.
I had to take down four Ash trees yesterday. Victims of the EAB. I was able to push three over with the tractor bucket,one I cut. Make nine so far all told. There is one more that really needs t come down,but that is for next year. I soon with have nothing left but Black Walnut, Crab apple and Hawthorns.
Had to look it up, Peter. . EAB = Emerald ash borer. . Sorry to hear you lost them. Sounds similar to the Southern pine bark beetle here. I planted about 5 acres of (supposedly) beetle resistant loblolly pines once, and they all got wiped out in one season after they were 20 years old. It was a mess. The water oaks are taking over here, crowding out the slow growing oaks and hickories. Fast growers, uproot easily, and useless for lumber. Why can't beetles target them instead.
This incredible Sugar Pine tree https://tse4.mm.bing.net/th?id=OVFE.VFL5b2c7c1f12661b857cf46d3d5d13681e&pid=VidRec (VIDEO)
8/11/2019 .. Almost back to square one ... again Today was the second afternoon spent on garage door opener repair. It's now working a little better than it did before it broke completely. Only the simple things were hard. The hard things were easy ... because of this video: How to Change the Gear and Sprocket in a Garage Door Opener - LiftMaster Chamberlain The most time consuming part was removing and replacing 3 little screws! Dropped one on the clean concrete floor, never could find it, and had to give up the first day. The hardest part was getting the chain back on the sprockets. In town I had 3 coffee cans full of old screws, one inherited from my mother. Out of probably 1000 screws there was ONE, and only one, that would fit, and I found it after looking at 999 of them. How lucky was that! There are two more screws that go way back in deep holes on the box. Will have to get some chewing gum to stick those on the screwdriver to put them back. And it has to be adjusted a little, but I didn't know how to do that today Garage Door Opener - Limit & Force Adjustment - Liftmaster Worst part, the ceiling of that garage feels about 20 degrees hotter than outside in the sun, and it's been up in the mid nineties outside.
Nancy, be sure to drink plenty of fluids while in this heat. I think the whole state of GA is under a heat advisory!
I had an old one quart jar full of SF Kool-Aid stuff out there with me at all times. And two fans going, which didn't do all that much good. Had to keep the garage door shut most of the time.
All I gotta say is that you are a "real trooper"! I will not get out in this heat to mow grass! Although it has not grown much because we cannot seem to get any rain. I keep watching the weather reports for when it will start cooling off a bit. But I know September can be just as hot! I'm too old for this!
Spruce bark beetle here. I have about 60 trees to take down when I have the time and the energy. The power company is supposed to take down the ones near their lines, but I will still have to cut them up unless I want to see the carcasses for years to come. Otherwise, the priority goes to those that could fall and lock access to the property.
I hear you! ..We are headed into the dry season, unless there is a hurricane or a tropical storm. It already got so hot and dry in July, I thought some of the lawn grass would die out. The part of the lawn that's in the shade needs mowed, but not that in the sun. I've decided not to mow any of it until it rains at least once again, to be safe. That's my excuse anyway.
Update: . Garage door opener Adjusted the garage door today and it works much better than it did before the gears broke. I don't understand why, but I'll take it. There is still something wrong with the sensors and that is just fine by me. Those are a nuisance. Even spider webs would stop the door from closing. Both the remotes quit working long ago, and I'm feeling cocky enough to try those now, but maybe later (got to get back to those redtips.) I really like this Chamberlain company. They have all the parts you would ever want. Most companies would force you to buy a whole new outfit. That gear kit was cheaper directly from them, than from Amazon. High today, 97 F (36.1 C) . .