Changes of Landscape- Unplanned & Planned

Last month, our area was hit with the strongest windstorm that this area has seen in years.  It did damage to many trees in the area, and caused loss of power for thousands.  We survived the storm without any major damage, and only loss power while they shut it off to do repair work elsewhere.   The first night of power loss was actually sort of fun, as we lit some candles, played guitar and sang songs, and went to bed early.   We heat with a wood stove, so we had heat throughout the 30 hours of power loss, which was wonderful.  Though none of our trees fell, we noticed that one of our pine trees, seemed to be tilted more than normal.  Upon closer inspection, we noticed the base of the tree was cracked.  Though the tilted tree looked a bit silly, it was still standing.  

The weather has been unseasonably cold and rainy for May, so we did not go outside to play today.  When the Laird went out back to weatherproof  the roof of our Top Bar Hive, in preparation for the arrival of our bees tomorrow, he discovered a very changed landscape!  That old pine tree, that we hung our hammock from during the past 3 summers, was no longer tilted or standing.  It was sprawled across our lawn!  He came back into the house to get me to come and see the changed landscape of our yard.  My first thought was that there had been another "chicken massacre"-as the last time he came into the house declaring ominous news, it was 2 incidents in one week where we had lost a chicken to a predator- likely a hawk and a fox.  Not this time.  Just the tree.  

 In other news, we found an old Jungle Gym play set on craigslist a few weekends ago. This change to the landscape was planned.  The kids are at the perfect age for a play set, but we hadn't quite found the right one.  We were also intimidated at the prospect of having to disassemble, transport and then re-assemble a play set.  So we've been sitting on this hope for some time.  This particular jungle gym was a great deal, that included the generous service of moving it in one piece (minus the slides) and transporting it to Redwoodshire.  Once the seller offered to help transport the thing in one piece, I was sold.  What kind people they were.  I have always had wonderful luck meeting wonderful sellers on craigslist.  The whole process was so easy because they had a trailer and were willing to help us out moving the monster of jungle gym.  The only drawback is that we aren't quite happy with it's location and will be looking to move it back towards the woods.  That will be a challenge for another day.  Though the weather has been lousy- cold & rainy- the couple times we have been able to play on the jungle gym, the kids have both built up their confidence to go down the slides.  We do need to re-paint and sand a bit to help smooth some of the splintery edges- which we will tackle as the weather gets drier.  

As for now, the Laird has a new task before him of cutting this pine tree up and clearing it from the yard, in time for our annual Memorial Day party in a few weeks.  Sadly we won't be able to enjoy the shade of this particular tree any longer & we have to find a new place to hang out hammock.  On a brighter note, the blueberries will receive many more hours of sunlight, and be more productive now that this tree is no longer standing.  And the pool should get a little more sun too.  This change of landscape will take a bit of time to get used to, but we are thankful that it didn't fall on anything and cause any structural damage!

A MUST HAVE for Felling Pine Trees

One of the first adventures at Redwoodshire, happened the day the Laird decided to fell 2 very large pine trees that had overshadowed the swimming pool for far to long.  The Laird could not comprehend why these trees had been permitted to live there, and continue blocking the sun to the pool.  What a misfortune!  Thankfully, the job went off with only a small casualty.  They calculated where they wanted that tree to fall; away from the pool, between the passive solar heating system and some other large pines.  They trimmed off some smaller branches.  Little John climbed up the tree and tied ropes to act as a guide for the felling process.  Friar Matthew conducted the process, and lumber jack Alexander worked heartily with all his might to assist the Laird with this job.   "Timber" they yelled as that first tree came crashing down!  Bringing those trees down was the easy part.  Then the real work began- cutting the massive trunk and branches into smaller pieces and hauling them into the woods.  It was a whole Saturday morning of grueling labor.  Being sustained by  only donuts, muffins, bagels and water (supplied by the Lady of Redwoodshire- me), they worked and worked and worked.  

  As I have little knowledge of the process of felling large trees, I have  discovered the most wonderful product to help remove that terrible sticky pine pitch.  Months after this adventure of tree felling, we are still cleaning up the remains.  The back woods are filled with massive piles of pine remains.    Eventually the Laird hopes to transform some of those large chunks of pine trunk into cool seats to go around the campfire pit.  A couple days ago, Miss Sarah and I were out for a stroll along the woods edge, picking up some of those small pine remnants and depositing them to their place in the woods.  When we were finished, we quickly noticed we had spots of sticky pine pitch covering our hands.  "How annoying" I said.  Miss Sarah responded, "I have "Miracle Salve" that will take it right off."  "Really?  What's it called?"  "Miracle Salve" she replied.  It was truly as good as she described it.

Burt's Bees Miracle Salve.  Rub a small portion over your hands or other affected body part.  Then rinse with water.  Smooth and soft again, as if we had never encountered such stickiness.  

Timber!  First tree down, one more to go

Hi-Ho-Hi-Ho it's off to work we go

The aforementioned casualty: a lone bush planted in the middle of the grassy field.   It appears to have buds growing, so we think it survived the trauma of Pine number 1.