Posts Tagged ‘images’
Seasonal Dyslexia
Yesterday’s unwelcome weather event did not turn out to be one of the ominous “top-10 historic April snowfalls” that was being touted as highly likely, but it still scared me away from trying to negotiate Thursday’s traffic. I didn’t go in to the day-job. Both Cyndie and I stayed safely off the roads and tucked in our home, protected from the elements.
Thus far, we have experienced heavy rain, then sleet, then sloppy wet snow, then falling temperatures, and then wind-blown snow, out of this winter storm. It is still going strong, continuing to ply its wrath over us this morning.
Winter storms that occur in the springtime can be rather exasperating, especially when they cause postponement of an already delayed fence installation project. Doesn’t do much to accommodate our brush-pile burning project, either.
We have an important meeting in the cities this afternoon, with our tax accountant, so must bite the bullet and get behind the wheel, regardless the conditions complicating the morning rush “hour.”
The things we do for love.
We are head-over-heels in love with this place we now call home. It easily makes our driving hassles worth the trouble. Even when it is covered with snow in the middle of April, it is a wonder to behold.
Frozen Dirt
The frozen dirt of spring keeps grabbing my attention as I wander the areas where running water from snow-melt is carving paths and shapes. Overnight, things freeze up, capturing new spectacles to be discovered each morning.
Winter Receding
A little artistic rendering of the transition from winter to spring. I like how the compilation of grass, ice, and dirt turned out in this shot. Check out that great looking “M” in the ice!
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More Posts
Monday is the weekday I don’t drive to the day-job, with my 4-day work week, and yesterday provided me the opportunity to witness the process of fence posts installation. I discovered there is a lot more to the task than just digging a hole and dropping a post down into it.
I am very grateful to see the crew we hired are very particular about getting the posts precise, to assure we end up with not just a functional fence, but one that will look good, too.
With each post, they have to watch multiple things, simultaneously: first, that it is the right distance from the previous post, but then also that it’s set to the right depth, level in two directions, square to the line which the cross-boards will run, and ultimately, in line with the rest of the posts.
When they finally achieve all of those parameters, they need to back-fill the hole, packing the dirt tight as they go, without allowing the post to move out of position. When you are setting a lot of posts in a line, one bad one can really stand out of the bunch. They have to repeat this series of steps over and over, with sustained vigilance to meet each goal, for every post. I think it’s pretty impressive.
They also agreed to create a radius, which I didn’t think they wanted to do, so the fence by the new driveway will follow the arc of the loop.
While that work was happening, we received one more truckload of sand for the driveway, and then the trusses for the hay shed. The dump truck driver informed us it would be the last load for now, as he discovered the route has been posted with road restrictions for reduced weight limits, due to the spring thaw. That restriction will likely last into May. We got close, but we were intending to put at least one more load than was delivered yesterday. Luckily, we have the fill we need for work on the shed to commence.
Here is a wide shot that shows how the fence line will arc with the driveway, and where the hay shed will be located beside the driveway loop:
New Posts
We have fence posts! And that’s no April Fool’s joke. The first ones were placed on Friday. It is still very wet down there, so progress will be limited to hours when the ground under foot is mostly frozen, but fence posts are a great visual of progress that has been long-awaited. An actual fence may be days away yet, but that is better than being weeks away.
Yesterday wasn’t a big day of melting, but it did get above freezing, and the angle of sunlight is high enough now to be productive in causing melt, even if air temps don’t get very high.
There was a fair amount of wind, and the air blowing across the fields of snow felt noticeably chilly. In spots where there was a wind break, the solar energy was unmistakably warm. You feel it instantly.
Elysa and Anne were visiting and we played for a bit in the melting snow piles, creating paths for drainage, which quickly became babbling brooks of runoff. What a wonderful playground we have here!
New Level
It is amazing how quickly we are able to adjust our perspective about things, when given the “opportunity.” When I turned into my driveway after the long drive home from work yesterday, I immediately had my definition of asphalt damage dramatically re-framed.
All winter long, I have been fretting over the scrapes and marks I have been making on the driveway, as a result of my crash-course in plowing technique this year. Then, on Wednesday, the first truckloads of dirt for our new loop created some cracks, and damaged an edge.
Yesterday’s truckloads made all the other minor damage a moot point.
Suddenly, all my previous concern over the driveway seems like much ado about nothing.
So, now it’s got a real bad spot. So what. We’ll deal with it. My previous obsessing over the condition of the pavement has been adjusted to a whole new level.
Meanwhile, the fill for the area where the hay shed will go is starting to take shape. Day 3 was again cut short by the afternoon melt. The project will proceed in half-day increments.
Snow Fun
We have company this weekend. Cyndie’s niece and nephews stayed overnight. Yesterday was a beautiful day for outdoor fun. There is still a lot of snow around here for fun and games, but it was warm enough to be completely comfortable in the spring sun. I started the morning by digging a path to the fire pit, so we could have an outdoor fire. We created sled runs on our back hill, one with banks and turns, and one straight shot down the hill. A snowman materialized, an activity that was followed by snowball battles, snow angels, and much running and exploring. The kids were particularly interested in one of our brush piles that never successfully burned last fall.
Soaking wet, rosy-cheeked kids came indoors for treats and respite beside the fireplace. I got a chance to watch a little of the college basketball tournament games before it was time to head back out to cook burgers over the fire. That gave kids another opportunity to see how the sled runs were setting up in the cooling evening temps.
The runs had gotten a bit too fast for the size of our banks. I think that is the funnest part for the kids.
Relative Something 