Snow!

On one of the few snowy days we had in February, Jim went outside and snapped these pictures.

From our mailbox

From our back deck

The Snowball Bush

The Pine Tree in the back that Jim wants to one day run electricity out to so we can decorate it for Christmas.

From the end of the driveway

Let the Weed Deforestation Begin!

Our poor yard.  It is a bit neglected because we have been concentrating on the inside of the house so much.  Plus, because of the new septic installation, it already looks battered.  We decided to take a weekend and give the yard some much needed attention.

Our first task was to remove the weeds from around the water well area.  The weeds were so bad that it looked like we were purposefully growing a weed garden...NOT that kind of weed!  LOL!

This is what it looked like.

 I drew an arrow so you could see the well amongst the weeds.

Once the weeds were removed, we raked up all the red gravel in the area.  We plan to put a weed barrier down to try to prevent the weeds from returning.  Since I didn't like the look of the red gravel against the blue of the house, we transported all the gravel to the back of the yard to surround the firepit.  It looks a lot nicer back there.  We'll probably put grey or white gravel over the weed barrier.  I'll make sure to take a picture of it once the project is complete.

Our Snowball Bush might not have survived this spring and summer, but our Mimosa Bush is thriving in this heat and rain.

In fact, it is doing a little too well.  We need to restrain some of the heavier branches so that they don't break off.  Hmmm...I wonder when we'll have time to do that!

Another task we did that weekend was to cut down some of the webworm webs in our trees.  They especially seem to love our black walnut tree.  Some of the webs were too high for us to reach, but we did get all the lower ones.

Here is what they looked like.

 Ick!  Creepy looking, aren't they?  They remind me too much of spider webs, and I'm afraid of spiders. :(

Since I'm on the topic of bugs, here are some more for you to see.

Some Type of Fuzzy Caterpillar

 Isn't he cute?!

Red and Black Insect

He wouldn't stay still for the camera, little bugger!

Welcome to Amanda's Botanical Gardens!

The first set of spring flowers are starting to fade, but no fear, the encore is about to begin!

My peacock is swimming in a sea of Forget Me Nots.

 (Try not to notice the weeds.)  ^_^*

The late blooming purple tulips

 I love the blue in there!

Summer Snowflakes

I'm not sure why they are called this since they are no longer blooming in summer. 

Some kind of white flower.

More Daffodils

Hot Pink Azaleas

 Hmmm....Azalea would make an interesting name for a girl.  ^_^*

Blooms from a tree in the front yard

Blooms from a tree in the backyard

I've saved the best for last...my purple lilacs.

 Purple lilacs are my favorite flower.

 They are so pretty

 and smell so good.

 I wish they bloomed for longer than a week.

Now for the adorable.  I was in Jim's office when I heard a peeping from outside.  I looked out the window to see this!

 A fat fluffy baby robin sitting on our air conditioner

 I hope it didn't poop while it was on there.  LOL!

 This baby robin does not look amused.

The only pic I've been able to take of the goldfinch.

They are very chipper birds.

Nature Calls

Here are the first pics for the year of my flowers and birds.  :)

Daffodils

I still don't know the name of this flower!
I now know these are primroses.  (Thanks, Mrs. McKnight!)  :)

Or this one!

If you know the names of the mystery flowers, please say so in the comments.

This is a new arrival to the bird feeder.  He wasn't around last spring and summer.

Male House Finch

Smile for the camera!

It was really windy that day, so the pics are a bit blurry.

I'm thinking this is a female cardinal.  It was raining at the time, so her tuft is slicked down.

I could be wrong though.

My dad has christened this tree as our Buzzard Tree.

It is mostly dead.  This is the tree that has a heart shaped hole straight through it.  This is also the tree that our bird feeder hangs from.

Tree removal time-lapse

Here is a cool time-lapse of the removal of our large silver maple. This is a good illustration of the day long progress at fifteen minutes per frame.

 

Tree Removal (Finally!)

Hooray!  I have finally photo-shopped some of the tree removal photos!  I managed to get through Day 1.  I will keep working to get through Day 2.  There are a lot of pictures.  They are mostly pics taken by my MIL since I only had my camera phone to use.  You'll probably have to click on the pics so you can see them better.  This tree was a silver maple estimated to be between 100-150 yr old.  It had a circumference of 14 feet.  It was easily twice as tall as our house.  4 out of 5 arborists recommended removing it because it showed signs of rot in the base and was right next to our house and garage.  Silver maples are also known for their weak wood and the carpenter ants' fondness for them.  It had to go.  It was deemed a hazardous tree, and I wasn't about to risk it falling on our house, our garage, or our neighbor's house.

James and myself in front of the tree

Davey Tree Service arrives.

The guy I'm talking to in the last pic is the arborist who was the tree consultant for the White House.

Starting...

Close ups.

I had just had my 4 wisdom teeth removed the day before, so I was trying to take it easy.

Loading the logs onto the truck

Ride 'em cowboy!

Watch out below!

The Chipper

I wouldn't want to mess around with this thing!  It'd eat you for breakfast.

Using the crane

Cutting a large branch

Removal of a main branch

View from the front of the house

The last bit of foliage

Bye Bye, Shade!

I bet the tree is feeling a bit naked.

Coming to the end...

Now for the big guys

What was left after Day 1

Have you noticed the clouds getting darker as the afternoon progressed?

The tree looks a little befuddled that we cut it down.

Can you see the face?

When the rains came!

The rest of the pics were from my phone's camera.

Cool action shots of the branches falling.

Taking the final piece off for the day

View from master bedroom

Whew!   Now I have to chug my way through Day 2.

Toodles!