Swallows of Suntex

We have returning swallows each year at my work space. I can view the nest just outside my window which can be very distracting but fun to watch them grow up and fly on. This is the first batch, she usually has 2 batches per year at our location. They hunker down when you get close to the nest. There are 3 of them in there.

43 years on this earth

TJ turned 43 this past Sunday and we spent the day with Mark & Brenda going to the movies and then lupper @ the Village. From there we headed to their home to watch Inkheart and consume freshly baked brownies, with ice cream of course. It was a good day and we loved Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

(yes, carpal tunnel, yippy)

sweetness

donkey days part II

battle continues

We have spent another week/weekend cutting, re-spraying and removing bamboo from our yard. Hurt backs, scratched up arms & legs was the price paid this weekend. TJ figured he would bundle a load, then use the jeep to move it up the hill. This seemed like a great idea. That is until I saw all the tens of thousands of seeds falling off into the yard & into the trench. This did not make me happy. I used the shop vac to suck up as many seeds as possible until the vac crapped out on me. A plane flew over while I was doing this and I can image the conversation that took place about the crazy woman vacuuming the dirt in the back yard. The next step is to lay down salt in the ditch so the seeds won't germinate, then install the barrier into the trench (used conveyor belt from stone quarry) just in case some of the rhizomes survive our attack and try to make it back up into the yard. Not sure what's gonna happen after this. It may involve some kind of small explosive devises, who knows the mind set of a crazed person.

Remember Me

Next time you see someone in our Armed Forces walk up to them and say thank you, it goes a long way.

This Picture is Worth 1000 Million Words (minimum!) . .

We truly take a lot for granted. Forget the football 'heroes' and movie 'stars'. Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you, Jesus Christ and a Soldier One died for your soul; the other for your freedom.

phase III - cut & spray

Saturday 8 am to 5 pm, cutting down the bamboo then spraying it with an industrial herbicide. Bamboo will start to seal itself in 15 seconds so we could only cut a little group at a time. It doesn't look like much but both of us felt like we just got our butts beats.
This also helped me with my spider fear since daddy long legs were climbing all over me and twice I was bitten by earwigs. Earwigs are nasty little things.





TJ standing by the pile of cut bamboo. Anyone need bamboo poles for staking or fishin'? FREE










Hey, there's trees back there.




Sunday we went to church, grocery shopped then came home and took a 2 hour nap. We're both still feeling the burn. Next we need to move the cut bamboo into the dumpster and haul it to the yard waste land fill.

moving forward

The picture quality is poor, but you get the idea of what we've pulled out of the top of the yard. It doesn't look like much but according to our arms and backs it might as well be as tall as Mt Everest.








After digging and removal of the roots, TJ tilled the area. This will be done a few more times over the next couple of weeks.

Once we removed the roots we began to dig the 30" deep trench so new runners don't make it back into the cleaned area. This goes about 100' long & will remain open for a couple of weeks until the process is done. Next we'll start to dig up some of the roots in the "pit" area then move onto cutting and spraying with herbicide. I think I see a light at the end of this tunnel.

It was nice to see the Praying Mantis are back. They hang out in the fennel while they are small.