yard update- June 16

Hi!

I finally dug up an old rotted lilac bush that made the place look bad... got the roots. It seems the spruce and bushes I moved to the one side of the yard to the neighbor side are so far not dead. One has to be careful on replants. It does not get shade there. The spruce is expensive- the other bushes I hope they grow- but if not- I did not really like them anyway.

The bed near the car port got a good thin out.

The trees and weeds- are in show place shape. Understand that this can be a ton of work.

Rick- who avoids ever doing my weeds- did my weeds in the front- which makes me so happy. You see- across the street- they dug up the weeds down to the brick walk. This takes HOURS. I never want my place to be the worst on the b- and theirs is the worst on block until now. So Ricks timing is perfect. (I pay him to cut the grass- but he does "not do" weeds) In the front - the easement between the walk and road- I can be wrote up for weeds- tho the code guy will first knock on the door and tell me to cut them. Same deal when there is snow.

As you recall- kids on the block can drive me buggy. 20-30 will play on my street and trample my yard. BUT_ I put them to work- they helped move a batch of bushes and helped trim the maple tree. Some of what they did I could NOT have done myself. I am not agile- to maintain my balance on a ladder. Frankie- the older boy- got most of a huge bush dug up- this helped alot- because I alone was not able to move it. For a reward I gave all the kids chocolate.

In addition to the 10 tomato plants I bought- I see 3-4 of the seeds grew. I have green tomatos- and I will have a crop this year- enough to give to neighbors. It builds good will. For instance Cindy in back- sent over a home cooked dinner the other day- she sent over some pop tarts, granola bars, and snack bars. I then helped her obtain a cord for her lap top. She had no idea how to score- but I did. With in 3 days she had one. Now the used computer she bought is functional. She offerred and loaned me huge sheers to cut trees- this a decisive tool in removing that rotted lilac tree.

Life is good!

Ps- I just watered the neighbors grass seed. Lets suppose it cost me $1. That $1 will go a long way in good will.

Captains Log. Stardate 16 June 2012

Yard report

Its fuckin raining again.

Everything is now about 3 ft high as its been wet for weeks and is well past any ride on mower capability.
Sheep or goats required .......

The 'green screen' i recently created for phase 1, bugout 3, is doing well. Some of the roughly transplanted stuff ( digger bucket only ) is a couple of foot long and as it sits on top of a 3 ft high bank, is beginning to look good. When its all filled in and around 7 ft high, work will commence on the bunker 'lid', which will join three existing concrete walls about 10 ft above the existing concrete floor, to create the basic space.

It shouldnt look any different in any satellite image as its just concrete, the same as before. Once the dust has settled on this, occupation will begin using it as a log store and covered machinery quarters.

Internal walls, with insulation where required, services and other workshop requirements like flushing toilet / shower / break room with sink n cooker, can then evolve without anyone ever seeing anything ............

Cleaned up the yard last night... mowed, weed whacked. Drank a few beers in the process. Watered the garden today.

Started all of it from seed, except for a few plants. Seems like my hit ratio on lettuce seeds is 1:20. Ugh.

Working on re-furbishing an old chair in the garage, but it's too friggin hot out to do much more.

Time for some R & R...

ADK

http://www.coultersmithing.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=618&p=3802#p3802
Was my yard work this week...

Edit:
rb, rosebushes are a nasty weed here but make the very best defensive perimeter you could imagine. They do tend to get out of control (I'm talking about the wild variety Thomas Jefferson "gave" us). Here they can reach 30 feet in diameter, and I've had one pull a tree down after growing up it. Even the deer can't get through them.

Riding mowers in the over 20hp range will usually eat nearly anything. Even 6 foot tall rosebushes if you're persistent enough and keep ramming them. Hard on the mower, and you have to keep doing it or they come back. Burning them just clears out the deadwood and does them a favor, even if you burn a tire over the roots. They are HARD to kill.

Dont need a security hedge for the bunker project but need a visual screen as mrs miggins, my serial complaining neighbour, gets paranoid when i start the digger and occasionally gets the feds to check out what im doing. She cant really see much but owns a bit of rough land that overlooks my site.
The green screen will stop her seeing the roof slab support system being erected. At worst she might get a glimpse of the edge of the slab in winter when the greenery tends to give up but visually it will be hard to spot.

Her serial complaining has resulted in the feds being really helpful and kind of encouraging me to carry on with my various 'restoration' projects, as they are pretty fed up with her. Would have struggled to get permission to do what im doing but the enforcement guys have a fair amount of discretionary power. Sweet karma eh

Regarding mowing deep vegetation, the next size up from the little john deere ride on mower is .... you guessed it ...... a 6 tonne hitachi.

No cutting required for about a year after a visit from that baby

Rick just cut the grass with out being asked. He will have to wait to get paid.

It does look nice. Next door went out and bought a bunch of trays of flowers and are planting them. I welcome it. Pride in ones home is a good thing.

DCFusor said:

http://www.coultersmithing.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=618&p=3802#p3802
Was my yard work this week...

Edit:
rb, rosebushes are a nasty weed here but make the very best defensive perimeter you could imagine. They do tend to get out of control (I'm talking about the wild variety Thomas Jefferson "gave" us). Here they can reach 30 feet in diameter, and I've had one pull a tree down after growing up it. Even the deer can't get through them..

Click to expand...

Here in Florida, our "rose bushes" are Spanish Bayonette. Look them up brother, because anyone who can walk through four feet of those fuckers can have my stuff!:judge:

Holy cow! Rick said he cut my grass for free because I helped his girlfriend Cindy buy a computer cord... (hard to find) (in was not that hard to find to me)

Good for you, Penn!

I spent the day working in the yard, as well. Actually, I harvested a little mid-season honey today in our little backyard. We live in a small town on a quarter-acre lot, and I've got three hives out back. We bottled three gallons of honey, so it was a good day!

I've thought about getting bees in the past... but haven't jumped yet. Too many other projects going on. I buy local honey from a friend --- I like honey to eat, but it also makes a killer mead.

Just went to the store tonight and picked up some more cabling and rope for my hop poles. Nothin' like growing your own beer

ADK

ADK said:

Nothin' like growing your own beer

ADK

Click to expand...

Yeah, that would be fun! I'd also like to put a still together and learn to make whiskey.

I would say that would be a good skill to have if SHTF.

Mine went down with the last boat. Oh well

ADK

rb, there's a lotta steps you skipped, actually. I cleared 40 acres of bushes and small trees with a Simplicity (hydro drive) and 25 hp - about 1 ton or something less than that.
It's a real machine, no metal thinner than 3/8" thick on it anywhere and most a lot thicker than that, it's one heavy piece of stuff (esp since I sand/glycol filled the tires). Just rolls over 3" trees...to paraphrase Arnold, "You're mulch". A nice new big ford tractor tried this and had much more trouble doing it. Less control, and less weight over the deck.

A mowing-freak pal I have has a big XMark ZTR machine, about 30 hp. It can eat 3' tall grass at 15 mph and 6' wide...pretty astonishing machine.

Ah yes, the serial complainers. People who annoy the government become self-defeating quickly. You just hope you're not the first one they take on, so they're already somewhat discredited by the time they start on you.

I hear you ancona...I used to not believe in "impenetrable jungle" till I went to an uninhabited island in the Bahamas once and saw the real deal. We were circumnavigating this on foot - and had to move to water at one point. You couldn't go through, and you couldn't climb over - the stuff was all either too slippery or had sword-like spikes on it. Not to mention the enormous spiders and snakes.

Our wild roses up here, about the same...really truly nasty weeds with sharp teeth. The only thing that can get through one is a groundhog. Deer who can run fast through places I have to crouch and twist to get through, just go around these guys.
I've seen them render several acres completely impassable. Anything that can climb up a 70 foot locust tree and pull it down - that's the real deal. But you can shoot through them of course.

The other natural screen I use here is raspberries, which have this nice benefit of being wine making material, or just plain yummy. I have both red and black for that, as well as blackberries, which will bite you pretty hard if you try to move through them, but nothing like those roses. Those thorns will even take powder-coat paint right off.

aahhhhh

mowing and mulching freaks ........... :flail:

I dreamed about fitting a heavy duty flail onto the end of a digger arm

do they have a specialist forum ? :wave:

I'm still situated in the burbs. No security hedges for me. Best I got right now is a killer attack rabbit that lives under the Sago palm in the flower bed in my front yard. He keeps banker hours though - only on guard in the morning hours.

We try to keep our yard just a bit scruffy, and do nothing about the dollar weed and other invaders. this insures me that we are not projecting any kind of wealth that would be out of the ordinary for our area. When we moved here, most of my neighbors were older folks who were either retired, snowbirds or close to retirement. Most of us kept our yards as immaculate as possible. With the radical demographic shift after the snowbirds cashed out in '05 through '08, we are a much less affluent area by half at least, so I keep my yard more or less just like the average Joe surrounding me.

It's a shame, but we don't want to become more of a target than we already are. Thankfully, I am known as a bit of a crank, but also as a crazy fucker who just doesn't give a shit. People leave us alone who do not really know us, and those who know the real Ancona family are good and close friends. Cliff has been where he is for a number of years and has done mostly the same things as regards networking with neighbors and forming alliances. I recommend this for everyone on the board actually. Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer.

Yikes! I am fighting my taxes- my yard looks too nice!

I do what I can. I have limitations- so I function when I do. At times- I say- give it all up and go into the highrise.

The neighbors view me as a crack- always looking out the window- and ADD- (Which I am)

I am almost always home- and when I am not- I am across the way. I also will use my bike- so car home means nothing- and I could go away with the neighbor.

Rick approached me- about using my car port. If he can park a legal car there- he would cut the grass for free all summer. On the one hand I want to say yes. On the other hand- I hesitate. My agility is not always good- so if I scrape that car moving my- car then it is on me. I do like the idea that there are looks that others are here. His gf made some comments to me... I think what I want to do- is if it is a yes- it stops 10-31. And end date.

I really would like to lower my tax.

When the yard looks nice- the rest of the place does not seem so bad.

ancona said:

We try to keep our yard just a bit scruffy, and do nothing about the dollar weed and other invaders. this insures me that we are not projecting any kind of wealth that would be out of the ordinary for our area. When we moved here, most of my neighbors were older folks who were either retired, snowbirds or close to retirement. Most of us kept our yards as immaculate as possible. With the radical demographic shift after the snowbirds cashed out in '05 through '08, we are a much less affluent area by half at least, so I keep my yard more or less just like the average Joe surrounding me.

It's a shame, but we don't want to become more of a target than we already are. Thankfully, I am known as a bit of a crank, but also as a crazy fucker who just doesn't give a shit. People leave us alone who do not really know us, and those who know the real Ancona family are good and close friends. Cliff has been where he is for a number of years and has done mostly the same things as regards networking with neighbors and forming alliances. I recommend this for everyone on the board actually. Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer.

Click to expand...

Im here 5 years. I rented also for 7 years on this street.

I am careful about keeping windows and doors locked. C claimed someone tried to break into her house at 2am and take the german sheppard.

Escuse me- but it doesn't happen that way. It most likely was someone she knows.

BTW- I have verbalized alot in recent months- that I "dont keep any money in the house". Let it get out- that for a $10 lawn job- I am often short and have to "go to the bank"