A Second Look--March 7, 2012

This week during a Second Look, I saw crocus springing up here and there. We don't have a definite crocus bed or spot--just wherever the squirrels and chipmunks have carried them and wherever there was a bed sometime in the past. This made each new discovery unexpected and exciting.

Most days have been cloudy or rainy, so all of the pictures show the crocus closed. They open when it is sunny.

Here's what I saw this week.

These white crocuses sprung up among the oak leaves near the front door.

These bright yellow ones are in the bed with the bird feeder. Notice the top of their leaves have been eaten.

These lavender ones with dark purple stripes are coming up in the middle of a cone flower plant.

These pale yellow yellow ones are coming up in grass in the middle of the yard.

These white crocus with pale purple stripes were in the middle of some day lilies that haven't come up yet.

This purple crocus is next to some azaleas.

Our first daffodil has also bloomed.

School Days--Leo

I hope that School Days will be a recurring feature in which I ask people about their early memories of school. Everyone has a story to tell about this and I hope to give them a voice here. 

Here is today's story.

Today's interview is with Leo who started school in 1939 at age six. He went to a neighborhood school in rural Virginia where there were 25-30 students in first grade.

"Tell me about when you first started school or an early memory of school."

“I've got a story about that. When I was a kid, I lived next door to my cousins. We were the only two houses around at that time. We had forest behind us and we used to spend all day out there playing. We'd run around, play tag, climb trees, and only come home if we were hungry or hurt.

Well, my mother told me that I was going to start school and I was very unhappy. I didn't want to sit inside all day and be fenced in. The day before school started, I climbed up the gumball tree we had beside our house. It was where I would go if I were upset or wanted to think things out. I was feeling bad about starting school and didn't want to come down. The next day I went to school and didn't like it.

When the first report card came out, they told my parents that I was smart enough but antisocial. Of course, I was antisocial. I didn't want to be there because I couldn't run around all day.”

Timber--Part Two

Ward is guest blogger for today.


We recently had a diseased spruce and a diseased maple tree taken down. The tree company we hired came with a crew of nine and finished both trees in a little over an hour. They were impressive to watch. Below are highlights from their operations of taking down the maple tree. The spruce tree procedures were similar.

The maple tree had been killed by years of visits by sapsuckers. The sapsuckers would peck a ring of holes all around the trunk, about a quarter inch across, about half an inch apart. There were rings of holes all over the tree.

 

This was the telescoping pole chainsaw they used to cut the lower branches off the tree. It was about 12-14' long when extended. The blade was about 12" long.

This guy could whip the saw quite skillfully all over the place. As he worked his way around the tree, his coworkers would drag the branches away to the chipper.

Here is the chipper. It would take a long branch 15-20' in about 30 seconds. This was a very loud machine.

The tree was about 30' tall. They tied a rope to put tension away from the house, and used a big chain saw and cut the trunk. You can't see it here but he did cut a notch in the trunk on the side direction it was supposed to fall, and it did fall exactly where it was supposed to.

As soon as the tree was down, workers swarmed around the tree and started cutting and carrying away branches.

Others were working on the stump. The stump was about 12" in diameter and he cut it into pieces about 18" long. The chipper handled these large stump pieces easily. A little more heavy duty than the one in our shed.

While some were cutting and chipping, others were raking and carrying away small debris.

Once the stump was cut low to the ground, the man with the stump grinder started to grind the stump and roots. As you would expect, the spruce tree was much easier to grind than the maple.

They were a thorough crew. They even blew a little bit of saw dust from the pavement.

This was what was left when they were done.

Timber--Part One

Today we had a maple tree taken down that was dead because of a persistent sapsucker.  The crew we hired was amazing and the tree was reduced to a few wood chips in less than an hour. However, its memories will last much longer.

The maple tree was Theodore's tree. He spent much of his childhood there. It was the one he hid in when he didn't want us to find him. The one where he could go to be alone. The one where he found comfort when he he couldn't understand things. It was also the one to climb with Wally and his friends and the one to show off in. Ward and I liked the beauty of the tree and the shade it provided on hot summer days. However, it was Theodore's tree.

As a mother, I already miss Theodore's tree. I'm glad I have the memories.

Below is a poem that Theodore wrote about this maple tree when he was nine.

My Climbing Tree

Up in my tree,

I'm as happy as can be,

Without a care or a worry.

With leaves everywhere,

Twigs and branches in the air,

Up here, there is no hurry.

With wind on my face,

And astounding grace,

Up my tree I scurry.

Food Waste Friday--March 2, 2012

It's time for Food Waste Friday, when the Frugalgirl encourages us to post pictures from the previous week of wasted food from our household. This accountability hopefully will help us to be more careful with our food and maybe save some money. 

Here it goes for this week.

Broccoli stems

The food waste this week is from quality issues more than anything else. We had a bag of frozen broccoli from which the stems were really woody and difficult to chew. We ended up eating the florets and throwing away the rest. This one of those cases where cheap does not equal thrifty.

Old dried beans

Also, I did another pantry shelf clean up during which I decided to get rid of all the dried beans we had. The last time we cooked a batch, the beans wouldn't soften even though they were cooked a very long time. This was probably because they were old. That along with the fact that we don't cook beans very often (I guess that's how we ended up with so many) helped me to decide that they all needed to go. 

However, these are not destined for the trash. I am giving them to my friend who's a teacher to use in her classroom. She said there are endless activities they can do with them. 

So, I consider this a pretty good save.

Another use for dried beans. A fish mosaic that Wally made when he was younger.