Mountain gardening

Mountain gardening. Yep, I keep trying to fool myself that all this ‘woodworking’ is gardening. I would have been happier designing Collage pages for the dogs’ birthdays, believe me! Here’s what I was doing instead…

This is my son Nate running the wood splitter..

It’s been great having him back in Denver, spending ‘quality’ time working together. 😉 He’s helped repair and replace fencing inside and outside the kennel. He leveled the dirt our neighbor hauled in for the lower part of the driveway. He’s cut down trees. About every 2 – 3 weeks, he comes up and we work on some outside project. Not only can I utilize the physical strength he offers, but it helps having that time set aside to work on not-so-fun projects.

There is one task he refuses to do. Stack wood. He said he’d help with slash, he’d cut wood, he’d repair fences, he’d do anything but stack wood. He’s stacked enough wood in his life. So, here I am hauling the split logs to the woodpile on the other side of the house..

And here’s the start of the woodpile..

There’s still a little bit of this project left to do, but it will have to wait until the chain saw is sharpened. Moutain gardening. Ain’t it grand! Next week we’re going to play with rocks!

Haulin’ Slash

My favorite job…haulin’ slash! Living in the mountains on wooded property requires different ‘yard’ maintenance than lush, green lawns. A coniferous forest where fire is Mother Nature’s way of maintaining balance presents additional maintenance, otherwise known as mitigation. Gathering up dead wood, cutting down ladder trees and pruning the pine trees are all part of the job. I try to fool myself and call it gardening.

Here’s the truck loaded up for trip #6…

 Those of you that have been to my house, especially this past year, know what the slash pile looked like. This photo doesn’t do it justice, as it was only after 5 trips that I thought it might be fun to share my weekend…

Twice each summer, the local firefighters organize slash clean-up. Using the high school parking lot, for a small fee local residents are able to dump slash. Later, workers come in with big chippers and produce mulch from the slash.

Today, we’re finishing up. For Apsos on the Mountain this year, I’ll be able to hang prayer flags where I want, rather than in attempt to hide the slash pile!

Whirlwind becoming a breeze??

The past two weeks have been a whirlwind, soon to become a gentle breeze after this upcoming weekend. Obviously, I remain ever hopeful for that idyllic life! Long summer days, lounging on the deck, basking in the fresh mountian air, soaking up some rays, reading great novels. Ah! My intention, my own personal participation in the blog, is to post something of interest daily. Being gone for a week and then making up for lost time this past week…well, the best laid plans…. Whew! I guess it doesn’t hurt, every once in a while, to be reminded of why I can’t groom a full-schedule five days a week. Productivity goes way down after Day Three. Not to mention the wear-and-tear on the ol’ body. This weekend I’ll be spending time with friends at dog shows in Eagle, Colorado while my husband holds down the fort here at home. Look for lots of new posts next week, including the awesome photos and dog updates some of you have sent.
I currently have the settings of the blog set so anyone can post, which is the way I’d prefer to keep it. Yesterday, the first spam was posted. As administrator, I am able to remove those posts, which I promptly did along with reporting it to the blog host. If spam becomes an issue, I may have to adjust the settings.
You may have noticed the graphics next to each Recent Comment link. I’ve learned that’s called an avatar, in blog lingo. Obviously, there’s a way for each of you to have an avatar. As soon as I have time to figure it out, I’ll let you know and you’ll have the option of using your own photo, a photo of something you like or remaining a white figure in a gray box.

Back from Nebraska

Rick and I are back home in Colorado from our mid-west road trip. We took only back roads, with the exception of the final four hours back into Denver. It was green, green, green. This photo was taken at my sister Lori’s house. The beautiful garden in the background sits in front of the old horse barn. My  nephew’s two-year old daughter Elise is catching the bubbles. A clematis climbs each end of the clothesline. It captures some of the simple things I cherish about where I grew up.

For those that asked, the house was built in 1880. While it was being built, the family lived in a sod house, built into a hill on the property. One of these days, I’ll put together a photo tour and share it with you. The house has been in our family since 1960. Lori and Ron have done a spectacular job of refurbishing the house, paying attention to each and every detail that made it a Farm House. I am so glad they undertook the project, not only because of my own memories but because farm houses are becoming scarce.