We finally have the toughest side done! Yippie! This side of the fence was all at the top of a hill.
That's not to say we haven't had problems along the way. June 21st we were going to get a lot of this side done. However, after finishing a section of fence and taking a Gatorade break, I happened to look up at the last remaining mature tree in our back yard...
Maybe it isn't apparent enough in the above picture, so let me show you from another angle...
WHOA! Our tree was splitting in half!
Not only had a large portion already split, but a crack continued down the trunk another 30 inches past the split! The wind was blowing pretty hard that day and we watched the two halves bounce in the wind. Visions of it splitting to the ground and falling on all the wrong things, danced through our heads. My husband made a beeline to the garage to get his trusty little chain saw. We figured half of it would be easy to get down, but even with a line tied on it, it didn't fall quite where we had hoped...
It fell right on a little maple tree (which you can't even see!) And the chain saw got bound up in the split when the branch fell. Note the circular saw at the base of the tree. He had to use that to get the chain saw out of the tree. Once that limb was finally on the ground, all the branches had to be cut up and stacked in a huge pile. (This is the one advantage I could see to living in the country... We could have lit that pile on fire and be done with it.) By the time we finished all that, we were pooped!
The rest of the tree is trickier since there are so many things in the way, including power lines. We decided to hire a tree service to deal with that. But first, Xcel has to come out and clear the branches away from the power lines. I won't hold my breath waiting for them!
But this weekend, nothing stood in the way of getting that side of the fence done. On July 2nd, I hauled the mountainous pile of branches to the compost site. They fought me all the way! Afterward it looked like a wild pack of gerbils had attacked the insides of my arms. Mean, mean branches! My husband took July 3rd off to work some more on the fence. The 4th we were on hiatus because of a very enjoyable BBQ. And on the 5th, we finally made it around the corner. (Maybe "around the bend" would be more appropriate! We'll be glad when this project is finished.)
It's all down hill from here...thank goodness!
It's almost 90 degrees today, and boy, does it feel hot in the sun! This little buzzer doesn't seem to mind, though.
This is the second year for my Fireball Hibiscus plant. Unlike the tropical variety, this hibiscus can survive a Minnesota winter. And the flowers are HUGE! This flower is almost 10 inches across!
The plant has gotten a lot bigger this year. Which is remarkable because it gets cut back to the ground each year. All this is new growth for the season. I love the pretty flowers. Each flower opens for one day and then it dies. But there are plenty of buds on each stalk, so there is at least one open flower every day.
Here is what it looked like last year. It looks positively puny in comparison! This year it has pretty much engulfed that whole corner. I wonder how big it will get next year? Hmmmmm.
We finally have the toughest side done! Yippie! This side of the fence was all at the top of a hill.
Since I started documenting the fence back in April, I figured it was time for an update. Especially since we have a bona fide section of fence done now!
