Paddling - September 13, 2012

After Randy and Romana's visit, and hearing about their kayaking, we got all jazzed to go for a canoe paddle.  We don't own a canoe anymore, so we went to Devil's Lake in Lincoln City and rented one.  We had it for four hours, but we couldn't last more than two.  It's been a long time since we went canoeing, and our paddling muscles, not to mention our rear ends, were not up to the challenge.  But we still had fun. The weather was perfect, sunny and about 70 degrees.

We had hoped to see some interesting birds, but the only ducks we saw were mallards. 

We had lunch at McMenamins in Lincoln City, then went south to Depot Bay, hoping to see something interesting there. Again, no interesting birds, just gulls and cormorants.  But we did see several migrating whales. 

We continued south to Newport, then headed inland.  As we drove toward Corvallis, the temperature rose rapidly to 88 degrees. We stopped in Corvallis for tea and a pastry, then drove home.

We'll definitely try canoeing again, but now we know our limitations.

More Garden Space! - September 12, 2012

We decided that the arbor vitae hedge in the back yard really had to go.  It was serving no purpose, as the fence and another hedge on the other side provide all the privacy needed.  So we had it all taken out. 

Here's what it looked like with the hedge.

And here's the after photo.

I've gained about six feet of nice sunny space.  My plan is to put in several fruit trees, with other things growing between them. 

When the owner of the tree company came by we asked him about taking out the larger of the fir trees, which was casting a lot of shade on the vegetable area.  We had another fir for the birds, so we considered taking the big tree out.  He gave us an estimate, which we thought was very reasonable, we said o.k., and they started immediately to take it out!

Here's the yard with the big tree.

This shot shows the shade from it.

Taking the tree out was an amazing process.  They took out a section of the fence, where the lattice is in the above picture, and took pieces out that way.  The chipper was in the parking lot next door.  A couple of small plants got slightly damaged, but I think they'll be fine. 

Here are some shots of the work in progress.  Evan spiked his way up, cutting limbs as he went.

When he got near the top, he took the whole top section off and dropped it neatly on the ground.

Then he made his way back down, cutting chunks of the trunk.  We were happy to see he always cut above where he was hanging.   The last section came down with a thud.  We now have lots of chunks for firewood, which we've offered to our neighbor.

We've moved the tool shed and bins of miscellaneous garden stuff out to the newly cleared corner. 

Stand by for more photos as things get planted.