The first peony buds of the season

June 13, 2018 - Wednesday

71 degrees/clear skies/calm winds

Pentoga Road

Amazing how fast everything grows this time of year, especially after receiving .95 of an inch of rain overnight. I was awakened in the wee hours of Wednesday morning by loud thunder and pouring rain hitting the metal roof overhead.

I took the above picture early this morning. By late afternoon, the buds had become flowers.

After Wednesday morning's walk, I played lumberjack, probably asking more of this rapidly aging body than I should have. There are several trees around the perimeter of the yard that are dying from the Spruce Bud Worm infestation. Today's project stood at the edge of the back yard.

One side was fully alive while the other has become almost bare. It made dropping the tree where I wanted it to fall most difficult. 

Despite notching the tree, gravity won and it fell into two adjacent trees.

It took some sawing and the old Ford tractor, but in the end, the tree was lying on the ground.

The rest of the day was spent working up the tree and later, cleaning the area of small limbs and twigs.

The large branches were put through the chipper/shredder.

The little stuff was loaded onto the bucket of the loader and taken to the burn pile.

The trunk was cut into three eight-foot sections and taken to the growing staging area to be stored until it can be made into milled lumber.

Glad to be finished, I decided to relax and mow the front meadow. The rest of the yard will need to be cut in the next day or two.

Sargie just called. She'll be pulling in the drive pretty soon. It will be a short night for her as she has to open in the morning after working a ten hour day Wednesday.

I'll go for my usual walk first thing in the morning  then I think I'll trim and mow the yard. The honey berries are quickly ripening and I hope to begin picking those Thursday afternoon. If it gets too hot, I'll retire to the shop and continue working on the letters.

It's time to do something. If I sit in this recliner much longer, I'll be sound asleep by the time Sargie pulls in. Tommy P's a tired boy tonight.

The neighbor's poppies are beautiful, but they won't last long with the recent strong winds.

After all, a man's work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road... 

With the tree gone, the back yard looks much bigger.