Hailwood1965

We have lived in our present house for almost nine years. In the back yard sits the bane of my existence: a cluster of black walnut trees, one of which is on our property, three others sit on the neighbors' (2) land. As a former woodworker I can attest that black walnut wood when used to make furniture is beautiful. Wonderful grain, really nice texture. But I see no other use for Black Walnut trees, at all. I had lunch with a fellow at the local cafe last summer and he mentioned casually that he had just finished planting 1000 black walnut trees on some property he owns. I lambasted him fully for doing so. Soon after we moved in, it became quite apparent that the trees are problematic to have around. Our tree is huge and because of this shades too much of the lawn, and the walnut casings kill nearly every plant they come in contact with. After having two sessions with a commercial tree trimmer our tree is somewhat tolerable but it still would litter the back yard with hundreds of ...

My hasty run home to get some bulbs in the ground yesterday during lunch was not all for naught. We awoke to a half inch of slushy snow this morning. After my quick planting I felt relief that I had gotten them in the ground but spent some time after wondering why exactly they have to be in the ground in the fall anyway, as bulbs are pretty self-sufficient little orbs of life. Why could I not just keep them somewhere cold this winter and then plant them in the spring? That question may answer itself, as when I arrived home from the office another huge box of bulbs had arrived, procured from the supplier's 75% off sale. The ground is not yet frozen. More mulling will commence.

Almost the last of my bulbs are in the ground. My trip to Portugal really screwed up the schedule to get them in the ground while it was nice. Today I was digging a hole in the front yard in freezing rain trying to get them six inches down. Hopefully this will work, and if not, I did get them pretty cheap, so ... I had good luck with getting bulbs to bloom this Spring. The real problem was the deer, who ate so many of them. New plan: plant the bulbs in areas the deer will not frequent (brain surgery, I know). Plus I have some kind of mechanical deer frightening contraption planned in my head. I just need to back it down a little--a pile of loosely stacked logs attached to a motion detector and pin might injure one of the kids. Maybe just a light. TJA and I practiced jumping in the kitchen this morning, him putting great effort in but not actually coming off the ground. At all. We did laugh madly all the while so the lack of hang time was not important. He still won't talk. He unde...