Yard cleanup

This weekend was dedicated to house and yard. I tackled some much needed land management tasks. I fired up the chainsaw and removed all the dead limbs from our trees. By the time I was done, one of our crabapple trees out front only had one remaining limb growing horizontally out of the trunk. It was one of the saddest looking trees I've seen...I wish I took a picture. So after consulting with Danza, I cut the whole damn thing down. The yard looks much better now. The picture is of the load I took to Yellowwood to dump. I've got a growing "burn pile" out there. This summer I might host the 1st annual Big Burn Festival at Yellowwood and light up the burn pile and drink beer and cook burgers with family and friends.

The family took a trip to Lowes yesterday and we ordered window boxes for the front of the house, and exterior shutters for the naked master bedroom window. Plus we finally decided to have blinds installed in the dining room and family room, and white shutters over the master tub and side window. Those should be done in a few weeks.

Lastly, and most importantly, I shopped for lawn tractors. This is great fun for a guy like me. Horsepower, automatic transmissions, over-head valves, 20 inch tires, and attachments like dump carts and snow plows! I haven't pulled the trigger on a purchase, but I'm getting close. I'm going to give the hand-me-down 15+ year ol' Johnny Deere a chance or two this season, but without brakes, with the electrical system shot (no safety shut-off and it has to be started in gear), I've really had about enough of it. I refuse to put any more money into it.