With a solid week of nice weather, everything is starting to wake up, and I realize an avalanche of work is about to hit me. I'm trying to get a jump on it. Last Friday Dad came down and swapped chippers with me, which should make short work of a lot of saplings I have around. He also took down a bunch of damaged trees up behind the house so I can so of tidy up back there.
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I wonder if I can inoculate this with mushrooms?
We might find out, though I hear oak is best.
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Then the raking started.
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Saturday was the front of the house, trying to get to the telephone pole.
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Hauled away a bunch of bittersweet, wisteria, dead lilacs, and grape.
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This view has not been seen of my house in decades, I'm willing to bet.
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Saturday was the leach field. The forward mound was all multiflora rose, which I was Very Tempted to light on fire right where it was. The shrubby mess behind it is Grape, Bittersweet, and privet overlaying a mock orange.
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Cleaned up as far as I could push myself.
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You notice that dark spot in the middle? That is a huge mound of dirt that the woodchuck dug out of the leach field. It was still frozen, so I'll give it some time and rake it out. Without the protective overgrowth, I don't think he'll want to live here anymore.
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Monday afternoon I raked the front yard, and Tuesday afternoon I raked the side yard. My daffies are pushing up, as are the other bulbs I stuck in all over the place.
Yesterday, I started a new project. It was supposed to be easy. "Just replace a few washers," the internet said. "The leaking will stop."
Well.
I broke the handle off my outdoor water spigot in the process of trying to get the part off to replace the washer. So now I'm left with a water stump.
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Before - Unsuspecting but leaky spigot.
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During - shielding the siding from the coat of PB Blaster I gave it to loosen things up.
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After - the stump. At this point, I'm thinking, "Since the packing is shot, and now I've broken the handle, let's just replace the whole dang thing."
Do you think I could get this to come off the threads too the pipe into the house? Nope. Not at all. Would not budge. So there it sits.
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This weekend will probably be Adventures! In! Plumbing! We'll see if I can get it done. There will also be more yard work, and maybe if I'm feeling super spritely (and the weather holds out) I might strip a door. Both of the doors to the office still need to be done.
