He Just Keeps Going

 Just a short three years ago when we purchased our home there was a nice grove of cedars at the west property line.

A wonderful bird habitat and it also provided privacy from that direction.

 We are losing trees at an alarming rate.

A few due to trying to keep a grumpy neighbor happy and keep the peace in the neighborhood, and now quite a few to Mother Nature.

 Cedar trees, unfortunately, have shallow root systems, and some heavy winds this winter (unusual for our area) have now taken down another five or six of the cedars.

This made for extra spring yard clean-up work for my husband over the past few days....

sawing, chopping, lifting, loading, dragging.... whatever it took to get the job done and the unsightly downed trees gathered up and placed into a deep gully in our woods.

 That area of the yard is now much tidier, and we can only hope that we don't lose anymore trees this year.

It's been a hard winter.

Here he is after emptying a load of downed brush into the gully.

Not easy work for a 65 year old dude, but like one of those old battery commercials...

he just keeps going and going.

 How's your spring going?

As The World Turns

 It's not feeling like December this December

The weather is so warm, and the plants and wildlife don't seem to know what to make of it.

Bears that should be sound asleep are out wandering about in search of food for themselves and their cubs, and our dogs bask on the front porch in the sunshine as if it were September.

Whether one believes that Global Warming is happening or not, it's becoming more and more obvious that our planet is changing.

 This area pictured... the area of our property I have always referred to as 'the cedars' is changing as well.  The cedars have thinned out tremendously this year, partially because we had a few of the pines taken out, leaving little for the puny roots of the cedars to cling to, and also because of our rain patterns which have gone from NONE, to such heavy rains that the shallow roots simply can't take it, pull up from the ground, and the trees topple over.

 Not only has this area given homes and a safe harbor for many birds, including the hummingbirds during the warmer months, but also privacy at one side of our property.

I'm going to suggest to my husband that a few Leland Cypress be planted here in the springtime.

This is the view as I stand amongst the cedars...... you can see that there is a great deal of sparseness.

It makes me a little sad.

Sorry for this somewhat sad post.

Let's look to the north view instead, and the Shenandoah Mountains beyond.

On a lighter note.... are you ready for Christmas?

There's no stopping it as the world continues to turn.

All I Can Say Is OMG!

 I heard the buzzing of a chainsaw, a tractor scurrying back and forth, and a wood chipper this morning, and this was after we spoke with our neighbor yesterday, who had hired a crew of tree trimmer and topper fellows to take out some of his trees to improve his view from his home which sits above us, down into the valley below and across the the mountains.

 So, I went outside and asked the tree fellas exactly which of our trees were being removed today and they said that as far as the cedar area that all of them were being removed,

and I cried OH NO NO NO NO NO.

We had discussed with the neighbor yesterday that we would be willing to take out the tall scrubby pine trees, which by the way my husband completely dislikes. but we had made no agreement to take out the cedar trees that stand within the mix of trees in the particular piece of OUR land that we had discussed with the neighbor.

 An so, I told the trimmers that I was the land owner. (since my husband is out of town) and that they are to only take out the pines and leave the cedars.

 Can you imagine the horror had I been away also and then come home to NO TREES on the west side of our property?

 The trees provide privacy on that side of our property, are healthy trees, and the birds love them.

Cardinals, robins, hummingbirds, brown thrashers, pileated woodpeckers, they ALL have appeared in this grove/stand of trees on a constant basis throughout the four seasons of the year.

 Now it's raining off and on, and the trimmers are gone to lunch and to take a haul of mulch from our trees to the company they sell it to.

I am 

SO GLAD I WAS HOME THIS MORNING!

Misunderstandings can happen often between neighbors, but I don't think our neighbor heard what we were saying yesterday.

He would have had the entire grove cut down, taken away our privacy factor and also it dulls the sound of the other neighbor driving up their rock driveway.

Sheesh!

Oh, now I hear their chainsaw going at it again.  Five more trees to go and that's all I will give to improve the neighbor's VIEW!