Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow

Yard work.

When the weather finally gets nice enough to enjoy, you spend the day working hard.

Since the snow melted the hard reality set in that Allyson and I had a lot of work to do in the yard. With the septic system being replaced in the back yard, it is pretty much just a bunch of uneven dirt. Also, our soil is very clay-rich so the drainage isn't the best, which causes there to be soppy ground with patches of grass. In the back yard, where there isn't just dirt, the grass barely grows due to the heavy shade.

The flowerbeds were very overgrown with weeds and leaves and rocks and everything else. Allyson's been working relentlessly on the flowerbeds, weeding and pulling, picking up sticks, etc, etc.

I started by leveling some ground in the front yard. Since the septic system had to be drained to the front ditch, there was a 3-5 foot wide mound of mud all the way from the back yard out to the road. I used a shovel and a rake and worked for 3 days or so for a couple hours each day. I only made it to the garage. It seemed to take longer than it should.

Allyson and I have been reading about various lawn practices. Fertilizing, aerating, shade-tolerant plants, mowing, mulching, etc. (too many etc.'s thus far).

In any case, that brings us up to today...

Dad came up @ 11 AM. Before he got here, I made an expensive run to Home Depot where I picked up a chainsaw and weed-eater and sledgehammer.

Then Dad and I went on some more errands. One of which included buying a used rear-tine Craftsman Tiller. It was a bit expensive ($300) but seeing as models that aren't as powerful or wide usually go for $650 and up, both Dad and I thought it was a steal. Only had to go to Twinsburg to get it, so it was even more convenient.

Once we got back, we fired up the tiller to see what it would do with the thick-wet clay. It mowed right through it. It even plowed right through the hard stuff that had been sitting around where the septic system was replaced. It's going to make the re-seeding of the back yard, much, MUCH easier.

After tilling for about 30 to 45 minutes, I mentioned to Dad that I might want to cut down a couple trees. He agreed that we'd probably want to do that before tilling, so we got ready to be lumberjacks. The first tree that we wanted to take down was the biggest tree in our yard. I'd say a good 80 feet tall. The tree had numerous dead branches, and was blocking most of the sun from hitting the back yard. It had a single stump, but split into two main trunks about 3 feet above ground. So the plan was to cut the tree down where it was a main trunk. Well lets just say that Gravity had a different plan.

The trunk that was facing away from the house fell harmlessly into the open yard. The other trunk stayed up and wasn't falling (thankfully). The bad part - it was definitely not straight up and down, so any more cutting would probably release the tree right in the house, and seeing as this tree was the biggest, it would have done some serious damage.

In order to release some weight, pulling the tree toward the house, Dad and I thought it best to cut branches off the side that was facing the house. Problem was, the branches were far above the reaches of the extension ladder. On comes what I will now refer to as the "Farming Ingeniuty." We've got two extension ladders and some rope. Sounds like the making of a 'Super Extension Ladder.' Allyson saw what was going on and headed to the front yard where she didn't have to watch. I ran up the ladder with the hand saw, and one by one, cut off the branches that were pulling the tree more toward the house.

Well that was the first big win-the tree didn't fall when I was in it, about 50 ft up with a saw in my hand.

So we went at it again with the chainsaw. I cut and cut and cut to try and get the tree to fall in right direction, but in looking at where we were with the cut, it just wasn't going to fall in the direction that we wanted...i.e. the house. We took about 20 minutes to try and figure out the best method to get it to NOT hit the house. We tied a rope around a top main trunk so we could 'guide' the falling tree as best we could. We made another 'incision' about 4 feet up on the trunk, borrowed our neighbor William for an extra 'puller.'

After some lengthy cutting, and a big tug from Dad and William, the tree fell...away from the house. For the record, I was really, really affraid that it was going to drill the house.

We ate some dinner, and then cut up a ton of branches and stacked the wood in the back brush area. That took about 2 hours or so. We then called it quits and cleaned up.

Boy it was a good deal of work. I'll quote Ben Stiller from Happy Gilmore "Well now you're back's going to hurt, 'cause you just pulled landscaping duty. You're in my world now Grandma."

My back does hurt.

I'll post the pictures of the event soon :)

I'm out.