After about eight trips to the dump and a week of Bill's sawing and snipping and pulling, our beautiful ornamental plum tree no longer occupies its space next to the barnyard fence and the quince bush.
It was a time-consuming and tedious task for Bill to complete the project.
When he did, he felt confident that the root system for the bushy style tree was diseased. So, it blew over in a severe wind storm, but it may have died fairly soon anyway.
That's the consolation for losing a source for hundreds of beautiful blossoms followed by a bounty of plums each year.
It is sad to lose that tree with its purple plums and the other (red plums), which succumbed to winter-weather damage this last year.
The plum tree dismantling was finished off yesterday along with a few other projects, and we had a helper.
After looking at the panel on the barn that had been blown open during the storm, Annie offered to climb a ladder and fasten the panel back to the barn.
She and her dad coordinated on the tools needed, and within a few minutes the panel was once again firmly attached to the barn.
Later, she asked if I'd like her to finish brush hogging the hay field.
Of course, I said yes, knowing that her help would free me up for chopping down (with weed eater) or cutting down (with pruning shears) several plots of Oregano that grow around the place.
I finished off one plot of oregano near the house and then went to work digging out the bottoms of the sliding side doors for the barn, which need to be closed for the winter.
While she was brush hogging, I also picked up another layer of leaves.
It was a busy and productive day around the place. Bill's next project will involve replacing some fence posts on the west side of the barnyard.
A board flew off in the storm and took part of an old and rotting post with it. So, that side of the barnyard, which often gets the most wear and tear from horses, will have some new strength for when they do their leaning.
Yesterday afternoon, Annie and I walked over to the Meserve Preserve when Shawn and Becky, two of her Camino fans who followed her blog every day, are living.
Like so many places in the immediate area, the chainsaw buzz has been going for several days as they saw up and move downed trees.
The Meserve Preserve was hit hard in the storm, and the work to clean it all up has been ongoing for weeks.
Shawn has had quite a challenge trying to remove the base of one large tree in their yard.
Our visit prompted a timeout from their work as they listened firsthand to some of Annie's Camino stories.
We had a great visit.
Later, we watched the Gonzaga-USC exhibition game where the ZAGS came up short against a Trojan team that would not go away.
It was a good game, clear to the end, and it was fun to get acquainted with some of the new ZAGS and to appreciate those we've watched before.
Quite a Saturday, dominated by work but finalized with the satisfaction that we're getting there and making some significant progress is preparing for winter.
The beat will go on today if it doesn't rain too much, and, sadly, Annie will go back to Seattle.
Happy Sunday.
Bill has worked late summer and early fall replenishing our winter wood supply.
So far, no need for a fire in the wood stove, but that's not far off.
It doesn't take me very long at all to miss Ireland.
The place has captured our family's hearts and most likely will never let go.
So, here's a little Irish classic about a place near Galway, sung by an Irish legendary singer Paddy Reilly and a few of his friends.
He had turned 85 last week when he sang this version of the "Fields of Athenry."
Enjoy.
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