Feb 26-27, '10

Sally had an appointment in Harrison, so we met at the farm. I was visiting Amanda in Denver the previous weekend, so it had been two weeks since coming out. I arrived about 2:30 well before Sally. After filling the bird feeders, I was anxious to check out the pond to be sure the beavers had really left. I also wanted to explore upstream to make sure they hadn't just moved up the creek. The pond was the pretty green it used to be, a nice color I don't remember seeing in years. No sign of beaver either, so I wonder if there absence might relate to the pond color?

Lopped Cedars

Since I was going exploring up stream, I took my loppers along. (I now try to always carry them whenever I'm out walking.) I was pleased to find no sign of beaver, but lots of downed trees across the creek -- more ice storm damage. It wasn't long before I got to a tributary I didn't recall. I decided to follow the main stream, gum creek, up to where it entered my property on the south line. I then fought my way back along the fence line going east. The cedars and pines were so thick in areas I had to lop a path just to get through. I whacked 1200 in just under 2 hours, and I'm sure there are 10 times that many that need cutting in just that area -- many with the chainsaw.

I also lopped Saturday morning, starting at the spring and following that disappearing creek down beside the road. I didn't get all of them or all the way down the road, but 800 more did make a dent in that immediate area. Lots of chainsawing of cedars is needed in that valley and up the opposite hill toward the power cut. Much of it will be just cleaning up the broken and down ones from the ice storm.

Weed Garden
When I got back to the house Friday afternoon, Sally had arrived about 20 minutes earlier and was out cleaning up the garden. So I joined her pulling weeds. We tackled it again Saturday and it was beginning to look pretty good. I hope, within the next few weeks, to get a load of compost out there and work it into the garden soil.

Pruned
I also pruned a peach tree, the nectarine and the two pears. I made some more spreaders for the three-in-one pear, and this time I tied them in place with twine. (I am attempting to get the limbs to spread rather than all growing straight up in a tight cluster.)

Deer

The signs of deer were all around the house. Out front where they have stripped the hollies, there must be 8 piles of poop. While driving down to the pond Friday, I spooked 8 of them that were just across the fence in the Clark's pasture.

Heater
The pilot went out over night on the heater in the core of the house. This is the one we just had in to Anderson's. When I re-lite it Saturday morning I could tell it would not stay on if I turned the heat up because the flame was away from the pilot and it was making that blowing sound. I just left it, but it returned to its proper position within 30 minutes and worked fine the rest of our stay. These ODS pilots are driving me crazy. BTW, I checked the propane tank and we are down to 37%, so we have burned a lot of gas over the winter (even though we haven't been there that much).

Load of Limbs
Before heading back, I loaded up the truck with ice storm limbs to bring back to town. We've burned up everything except for the Ash and cherry stacked down the hill.