The silver maples along the road are starting to bud.
These poor trees have been topped by the power company for decades.
We talked about taking them down but I’m sure they are home to the screech and hoot owls we hear and other creatures, too.
They’ll stay for now.
I think there are eight of them.
I should have gotten a far away shot of them. Will try to do that tomorrow.
Our daughters boyfriend, Luca, finished pruning this apple tree for us.
Luca, Samantha, Dave and I spent a couple hours yesterday afternoon hacking away at the honeysuckle between the pasture and the creek.
Forgot a before photo. This tree on the left was covered with honeysuckle.
We have so much more to do.
Above is the pile we created for the honeysuckle and the big tooth aspen we cut down some time ago. We are taking down the aspen because it is spreading into our meadow and most of it dies once it reaches a certain size anyway.
Once we clear, oh, another 20 feet or so of honeysuckle we will reach this tree. I can’t wait to get closer to identify it. It looks like it has an aspen growing through the middle of its many trunks.
I took all of the above photos this morning.
Took this photo this afternoon after I finished taking all this honeysuckle in the foreground away from the tree, top center. We’ll just keep chipping away at this invasive weed. Some of it is vines and some the bush variety. Many places on our property have both type. I also cut some out around the pines in the backyard and the maples along the road. I’ll need some help getting the roots out. Luca is coming back out later this week to help and Damian will help too once he recovers from a head cold.
Our church owns a small cemetery up the road from us. We said we’d help clear a path as the place is very overgrown. Dave and I went up there Sunday to get a start.
Yucca dominates which apparently isn’t unusual for an overgrown cemetery. It was a popular plant for cemeteries in the 19th century.
Found some little hollies, too.
I got these philodendron clippings from my mom last May.
Here they are today.
And a very healthy looking African Violet.
We crossed our creek to our pine forest today to plant some pignut hickory nuts, willow oak acorns and beech nuts. The pignut hickory nuts came from a walk we took on Christmas day at Betsy Bell Park here in Staunton. The acorns came from downtown Richmond and the beech nuts from my mom’s in Maryland.
Notice this ridiculously large vine wrapped around this tree. It’s probably japanese honeysuckle. We’ve started trying to rid our property of this invasive species. It totally covers the trees and kills them. Total eradication might be impossible. We will do our best.
Dave sees a bitty crayfish in the creek.
I just couldn’t take it any longer. Last week we started taking down wallpaper in our dining room. I knew there were at least two layers and we found that there were actually three layers.
Wallpaper doesn’t hide cracked plaster.
Seeing this 1920’s wallpaper for the first time.
We found a razor blade stuck to the wall beneath the chair rail. I’m confidant this chair rail isn’t original and it isn’t going back up.
I made the first rips and then Dave got out his tools and got to work.
We’ve filled many bags.
Isn’t this gorgeous. It is a block print. The ink runs as soon as we spray it with the warm water and vinegar solution.
Some evidence of plaster repair over this paper.
circa 1970?
There used to be a stove here and they did an awful job of patching. The area around it bows out noticeably. Fortunately, we have a plasterer coming out this Friday about some other work so we will show him this too.
doggie break
This is a good pic of all three wallpapers. I think the top layer was circa 1990.
Just as I suspected – the crown molding wasn’t original. We can tell because the first two layers of wallpaper go to the ceiling, but the last layer stops short. It seems to me it was around 1990 that chair rails and crown molding became popular again.
I thought the crown molding was overkill with these beautiful french doors.
This wall needs a lot of love.
Fashion might not be the only reason they put up the crown molding. Looks like they had to do some plumbing work here. This will have to be patched because the crown molding isn’t going back up.
Dave uncovered some patterned wallpaper on the ceiling. I think I’ve seen that patterned wallpaper is back in style.
I’m excited to get the walls repaired, primed and painted. I’m going to get a test pot of paint called Tomato Cream Sauce – a little bold for me but I’m going for a warm, cozy color as this is the room we gather most often with family and friends.
A bowl of soup and a garden book – just right for an icy winters day.
I woke up early yesterday and took this photo of the old elms in our front yard.
In the afternoon Dave and I pruned our pear tree. This is in the front yard. You can see the elm branches above the pear tree. As usual I forgot to take a before photo. We were very aggressive – shortening the tree, cutting off the water shoots and generally thinning it.
While Dave finished taking down the mistake of a fence we put up a couple years ago (below), I started pruning this apple tree in the orchard. It has been very neglected.
Yes, forgot the before photo. The fence just didn’t look good and it wasn’t functional (keeping the dogs in the yard) because we haven’t put up a fence in the back. Plans for any fencing are on hold. Basically, the dogs go where they want. Duke stays on our property – frequently roaming into the brush beyond the pasture and coming home full of burrs. Len visits the neighbors – giving them a look like they are on his property. Given his weight gain I expect he also visits the property behind us where they host dinners and bluegrass dances every Saturday night.
two white pines in the back yard
This is the apple tree when I finished with it. Lots more to do. You can see what I cut off in the foreground.
Sadly, we no longer have chickens. Well, we have them but they are in the freezer and the stock pot. We started having a predator problem in the fall – well, maybe in the summer, we just didn’t notice until the fall. This week we were down to just three hens. We locked them in the coop and waited for a relatively warm morning. That was today. Maybe we will try having chickens again when Dave retires in a few years.
Getting some much needed rain today. Hoping for a good snow fall in February.
We put up the Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving. Samantha and Luca were here to help.
The weather was mild which was nice for putting up the outside lights.
Damian helped, too.
Making cookies the Saturday before Christmas.
Erin (aka Soupy) was here for computer help and was happy to roll up her sleeves (and don an apron) to help with the baking.
A special Christmas Eve
