Our environs have been a bee-hive this week. As I input this Hunky Husband and I are being serenaded by the sound of a jack-hammer (preceded by sounds of a concrete saw) - at work removing our front steps.
Previously, this week:
Seven 4"x4" wooden posts have been removed from the back yard: five from the edge of the woods (which have, over the years, served as supports for various bird and squirrel feeders), two from the "far back" yard (used to support bluebird nesting boxes).
Below is a photo showing three of the five posts at the edge of the woods. The remaining two are to the right, outside the field of view.
After removal of the above posts, we have a clearer view into the near-arm of the woods.
Below, the bluebird nesting box in the foreground is easy to see; but, I added an arrow to highlight the post in the background. The nesting box had, some years ago, been removed because it had not proven to be in a good location.
After the posts were removed, a new one was installed approximately half-way between the left-hand post, above, and the tiny catalpa tree in the right foreground of the above photo. The new post (indicated by the white arrow in the below photo) will shortly have a new bluebird nesting box installed on it. The new location of the catalpa tree is indicated by the yellow arrow in the photo, below.
The tiny catalpa tree had been planted bare-root about five years ago, in a "temporary" location. It had grown to about 4' tall but had been broken off during the flooding last year and sent out new branches from the remaining trunk. Below, the catalpa is shown in its new location - close up.
Another tree was transplanted - a black walnut.
In the photo, below, it is shown in the location where it had grown from a walnut presumably planted by a squirrel (they are the planters in our vicinity!)
Below is the walnut in its new location in the heart of the woods - not looking too happy about the move! It doesn't look as though it will survive. : (
Finally, although I've no "before" photo, below is a photo of my new steps down into the woods. About 16 or 17 years ago, I had built steps using concrete blocks: each step was 1 block wide and 1 block high. Over the years, influenced by my lack of step-building expertise and the occasional flooding, the steps tilted forward. Recently, the steps were more like a ski run than stairs. Note the iron columns next to the left side of the steps. I had installed iron columns on either side of the old steps, to give me something onto which to hold to keep from sliding down the old steps. The workers left the columns on the left; but, since they made the steps 2 blocks wide, they had to take out the ones on the right. I love the new steps. I feel so safe running up and down them! The concrete blocks don't look all that pretty because I had them use the blocks that I had previously used in landscaping. Who cares? No one sees these steps but me and the animals!
NOTE: Unlike that young whipper-snapper, Bogie, I no longer do my own heavy labor. She has my great admiration for all of the work she has done/is doing/will do.
Those steps look a lot better - hope they serve you well (running, really? LOL)
Hey, no shame in having others do the heavy work - I had someone else do the majority of the work beside the driveway. I just improved upon it!
Posted by: bogie | October 22, 2017 at 06:01 PM
If I recall, correctly, on 6/29/2017, I took a whopping big fall at the top of the stairs - running upstairs from the basement. (I know the date because it was the afternoon of the morning on which HH had his hernia fixed.) Note that the height of these steps to the woods is 6". It turns out that what the boss had told the crew that morning was to make the steps 2 blocks "wide" and 4" high. When they started on the steps that afternoon, they asked me in which direction the boss had meant to make the "width". Since I had been thinking about 1 step wide in either dimension (I'll call them "width" and "depth") and 2 sounded like such a good number, I asked them to do 2 blocks wide and 2 blocks deep - but 6" tall. I don't understand why people want to put such short steps! I would have been tripping on them just as I had tripped on the old back porch steps.
BTW: Since the front steps had sunk, they are making the front steps slightly taller than the old ones had been. Now, your front steps are higher than I'm accustomed to; but, 4" steps to the woods and 5.75" steps on the back porch seem ridiculous. The new back porch steps are 6.5" tall (I had asked for 7", but that wouldn't work out.)
Posted by: Cop Car | October 23, 2017 at 09:17 AM
You’re having lots of activity where you live! Back porch, steps and rails look much more attractive for safer mobility. Can appreciate your landscaping changes. Am sure you’ll have a great sense of satisfaction when all is complete even if you didn’t do the work yourself.
Posted by: joared | October 23, 2017 at 10:06 PM
Joared--Yes, our house/grounds have hit an age where some things' being done was/is required - according to me. This is the longest, by about double, I've ever lived in one place at a stretch.
Hunky Husband's comment is always to the order of, "Why?" But...as long as I'm using my own money, HH pretty much "lets" me do what I think needs to be done; although, I always solicit his input. That input is 99% valuable (a higher percentage than mine, I must admit - he's pickier!)
The wildfires (Kansas, Oklahoma, California) remind me of the need to take out overgrown trees/shrubbery and to keep things away from the house more.
As to work: there is enough to go around. I've been toting/dragging (still) flotsam that is in the woods into piles (some of which are to be carted off by the tree guys), pulling up rampant (invasive) vines that have taken over in the woods, removing the vegetation and edging from a stretch of about 100 feet along one side and re-doing about 100 feet of planting area on the other edge of our property.
As I input, the crew is out in front installing the handrails. They should be done, cleaned up, and gone by noon.
Posted by: Cop Car | October 24, 2017 at 08:10 AM