Beech Tree Continued

 The ground around the tree is littered with the larger limbs that are going to be hauled away.  After these were loaded on the truck, it was time to cut down the remaining stump of the tree.  The second picture shows we were right to have the tree cut down.  It was seriously rotten at the bottom.  In fact you can see it split from side to side when cut.  I guess if the wind or ice was just right, the tree would have come down on it's own probably causing major damage. 

Take Down the Beech Tree

 After trying to decide for eight months whether to remove the giant Beech tree in the front yard, I finally did it.  I talked to four tree removal companies and received different opinions on the health of the tree. When new five inch holes appeared in the tree about 30 feet up (probably a Woodpecker) I said cut it down.  Here is the tree guy 50 feet up in his bucket and you can see the tree is still 40 feet above his head.  90 feet tall is a really big tree. The second picture show the stump standing 35 feet tall with all the limbs removed. 

Snow on Solar Electric Panels

 Our second snow storm in a week produced a little more snow covering the solar electric panels with 1 & 1/2 inch of snow.  With snow on the panels we won't produce any electricity today.  I can't rely on Mother Nature to clean them since the high today is only projected to be just above freezing.  So out comes the 8 foot ladder and my 16 foot long brush.  I push the top panel snow to the top of the roof and the rest I pull down leaving piles of snow above and below the panels.  Now if the sun will shine brightly, we will make some electricity.

Winter Blast is Here

 We are experiencing a bitter cold winter blast.  The night time temperature is getting down below 20 degrees and the day time temperature isn't breaking 30 degrees.  With those temps, ice is forming on the pond filter and the fish are laying motionless at the bottom of the pond.  Meanwhile the Butterfly bushes got their annual haircut last weekend just before this cold weather.  Its hard to believe these brown stems will sprout in a couple of months growing to 10 feet tall.

January Snow Storm

 We woke to an inch of snow late last week.  The roads were ok but some of our plants took a beating.  The Butterfly bushes were weighed down to half their height by the heavy wet snow.  Soon these bushes will get their annual haircut cutting them down to about two feet tall.  Many or our fifty foot tall Bamboo bent all the way to the ground.  On even fell completely over pulling up the supporting roots.  Some of these should spring back to normal but some will have to be harvested. 

There's Gold in the Water

 With the die back of all the plants, we get a good view of the goldfish when they swim in the deep end. Most of the time the water is near 40 degrees and the goldfish just sleep in the tunnel.  In this picture the temperature jumped to just above 50 and the fish became more active - swimming around and actually going after some food.