More Tree Stuff...

Remember those trees we had cut down a few months ago? We finally found a buyer for the cedar logs.  We were hoping to make back at least a portion of the cutting cost, and we did pretty well.  I wasn't home when they came to pick up the logs, but Brad took these pictures so I could see how it was done. We've been very happy with the extra sunlight we're getting now that the trees are gone.  This might become an annual event!

A Real Tree-hugger!

This guy is a real tree-hugger. 

Today we had several big trees in our yard taken down to give us more light.  Here's what it looked like before we took down three giant cedars.

And here's what it looks like after!  More open, but still a lot of trees...

We were fascinated with the process.  I took tons of pictures and videos.  

The tree-guy climbed up the trunk and limbed the tree as he went:

higher...

and higher...

and HIGHER...Yikes!  

He said it's actually easier the higher he gets because it's easier to hold on when the tree is narrower.  No thank you!

Then he cuts the top off...

I got some great videos, but they take FOREVER to load onto the blog and I'm not patient enough...

and starts to climb back down, cutting sections as he goes.

He ties a rope to each section and his helpers pull it as it falls so the log lands in the right place.

This is from the second tree, showing one of the bigger sections. The earth shook from the impact!

Here's a look at the cross section.  We're hoping to sell the cedar and recoup some of the cutting cost.  

We also had a maple and three other large evergreens cut, but they didn't need to be limbed since they could fall into the woods.  Well the maple fell into the yard, but the evergreens fell into the woods.

 When the last tree fell, the impact splattered mud all over the side of the house!  

Fortunately, it washed right off.  

The kids were all at my parents' house while this was happening.  When Ben got home, he was very upset that we had cut down ALL the trees.  He's been indoctrinated by the Lorax, I think.  As you can see from the after picture at the beginning, we have no shortage of trees on our property!  

Easy to Please

It doesn't take much to make me happy.  Something small like this drying bar Brad installed this weekend makes my month!

I don't know why it took me 10 years to think of this!  I've been draping sweaters and other "line dry" items over the edge of the tub or bathroom towel bars or spreading them on towels on the floor or hanging them on hangers from knobs in the laundry room for far too long.  Now they can all dry together in one place and that funny little space between the cabinets has a use!

Thank you, Columbus.

Thank you, Columbus, for "discovering" America so we could have a holiday in your honor, on which day banks are closed so Brad didn't have to work and was able to finish painting the house!  Yes, you read correctly, it's done!  Well, OK, not really DONE, done, but the yellow part is done.  The trim is not quite so done. 

This was the part Brad didn't want to do, and I don't blame him.  The roof on the north side is very mossy and slippery, and the chimney is so high up there.  More praying going on while he was up at the very top!

One sad story:  while he was painting up at the very top of the chimney, Brad saw a small hornet's nest in the corner of the flashing.  He sprayed it with paint and then saw two more what he thought were hornet's nests, so he sprayed them as well.  One of them moved, and it freaked him out so he sprayed it again. He was so nervous about being up so high, and now with the possibility of hornets coming to attack him.  The longer he looked at it, though, he realized a little face was looking at him.  They weren't hornet's nests, but little brown bats.  He felt horrible.  We've been trying to encourage brown bats to come live by us, we even put up bat houses in one of our trees, but they've never come to live in them.  He yelled down to me about it, and then one little bat flew down from the chimney, streaked with yellow.  A few minutes later the other one flew down, also yellow coated.  They flew into the woods, and I really hope they live.  Maybe their yellow fur will blend in with the changing leaves and they'll be safe, if the toxicity of the paint doesn't kill them. 

The (almost) finished product! 

Getting Closer...

Thanks to a beautiful day on Saturday, we got quite a bit of painting done.  If we get one more, maybe two, nice weekends, we should finish before winter.  Except for the trim...that part I'm gradually working on, but I figure it's not as big of a deal to get finished.

I had to climb up that big, tall ladder to tape off the trim, upper lights and window.  I did it when no one else was home, which afterwards I realized wasn't very smart, but I did have my cell phone in my pocket! The whole time I was up there, I kept praying, "Please don't let me die!"  And then when Brad was up there painting the very top peak and I was holding the ladder for him, I prayed, "Please don't let HIM die!"  It's so scary up there.

All that's left is the 2nd story of the north side of the house, above where we first started, and the chimney face, which is even taller than the garage face.  We're definitely saving the worst for the last! 

Yes, We're a Little Crazy!

And we'll be A LOT more crazy by the time we're finished!  We've been in our house almost 10 years and it was time for a fresh coat of paint.  The stain we used when we built the house was a huge pain to apply, so we decided to go with actual paint this time.  Choosing a color took me a while. I knew I wanted yellow, for some reason all the houses I'm attracted to are yellow, but there are SO MANY shades of yellow.  Cornbread, Gerbera Daisy, Tahini, Summer Sun, Lemon Drops, Yellow Brick Road, June Day...the list goes on and on and on.  We finally settled on Pale Honey.  Then we needed a day with some sun, or at least without rain, which for some reason has been hard to come by this summer.  Finally last week everything aligned and we were able to start.  My job is to tape everything off and then Brad paints with the sprayer, and then I go back and do all the trim.

Except on the second floor, the rules change.  Brad was very hesitant to let me up on the roof, but said Kylie could go up because her dexterity is better than mine.  Sad, but true!  I don't think we'll have her paint the trim up there, though.  Brad will have to do that.

She's not a bit afraid to be up there.  I would probably take one step and fall off!

It's a long way up!

When the weather hasn't cooperated, we go under cover.  Under the porches and breeze-way, that is. 

This is our attempt at turning Matzo into a yellow lab!  He is such a funny dog.  He loves to hang out with Brad, even when he's getting paint all over himself. 

We didn't labor as long as we wanted to on this Labor Day since the weather turned on us this afternoon.  I'm hoping we get at least a few more decent days this summer so we don't have a 1/2 painted house all winter!