Projects

With dry, mild days, Tom has been spending a lot of time outside working in the yard. He has all of the winter pruning done, so next on his list was making potting soil, using compost from our bins. Then he rebuilt the steps under the cedar tree.

We have been in our house 40 years now, and trees grow in that amount of time. We are the keepers of two magnificent old Western Red Cedar trees. Early on in our time here Tom built steps down under this tree leading to the lower yard and deck. Over time the steps have been adjusted to accommodate the flare of the roots of the tree as it expands. This is the latest iteration. 

 Charlie thought it was fun to roll in the new gravel. 

The other cedar is at the corner of our patio. Tom noticed that the roots are now lifting a corner of the patio.

 Concerned that the pressure might crack the patio or push it into the foundation, he bought  some cheap concrete cutting blades for his skill saw and cut a section of the patio. 

 A little bit at a time he gradually cut deeper and deeper, but did not go all the way through before using up four blades. He might do more later, but his sore hands told him to stop for now. Time and pressure might finish the job. 

Of course he tends to his greenhouse regularly. 

I finished the place mats that go with my table topper. 

 They are like little quilts but much more fun because the size is easy to handle and I just make them up as I go along, depending on how big the scraps are that I have to work with. 

Then three days this week I actually went outside in the afternoons to work in the garden too. I am by nature a garden groomer. I am most effective on my hands and knees, cleaning out beds, trimming back perennials, making things look prettier. 

I filled lots of bins with sticks, fir cones, and trimmings. 

 The tulips are coming up here!

By Thursday Tom was out of other jobs, so he helped too. 

It's all looking pretty spiffy around here for the middle of winter. 

Now it's finally February. The rains came back, with freezing temps and maybe snow in the forecast. I guess winter was just waiting.