Tree Day Part 3

Nick and his men also trimmed every tree in our yard. There were a lot of branches to be cleaned up after the trimming.

Here they are dragging them all to be chipped up in the chipper.

They did a great job trimming my wonderful pomegranite tree. By the way we got so many pomegranites off this tree last fall that we got 13 gallons of juice from this one tree. Once a warmer weather comes this tree will leaf out and bloom with bright orange blossoms and it will be beautiful.

We also are planting an apricot and a peach tree just down the hill from where we took out a couple of the big trees. Duane is digging the holes to plant the trees. He'll run the bubbler down to this spot so the trees will get lots of water. We'll continue to post more as we work on the yard and do our yard makeover. Stay tuned for current up to date information.

Tree Day Part 2

After the tree was down the men dug down about 4 inches below the ground and then they cut the trunk leaving a pretty big stump.

They tried to get as much as possible with the ax but there ended up being a pretty big stump.

Duane drilled holes all around the outside of the stump and then he poured Round Up into the holes hoping to kill the roots. Our neighbor did the same thing and he said it really killed the roots.

Today was such a beautiful day with perfect weather. Most of the day I didn't even have to wear a jacket. Our neighbor, Troy, came by to visit while we were working outside. It's nice to have such nice people around us.

Tree Day Part 1

Well today was the big tree cutting day. For quite some time now we've been dreading the inevitable. We have loved having so much shade in our yard, but our front yard is just way to small for the large trees we planted with gigantic root structures. The nasty roots have been causing havoc so it was time to do the dreaded deed. The roots have lifted up a section of our sidewalk which now is going to be taken up and repoured. The roots have also been pushing the ditch out and causing other problems in general. We hired Nick Huerta, a man around the corner from us who cuts down trees to come and do the job. There were 5 men plus Duane and I working all day. They were amazingly fast with their chain saw and chipper.

They cut the big branches off a little at a time and then the trunk. I was amazed how fast they worked.

We even did the trees in our side yard because they were also too close to the driveway and the ditch and also the main water lines which ran to our house.

This chipper was really amazing. They chipped up most of the trees making a whole truck load of wonderful wood chips. A neighbor who has a huge yard and garden wanted the whole truck load which they graciously gave her and delivered to her house. It was so fascinating I stayed outside all day to watch the action and couldn't get much work done until they left.

Mammals Part 2

I guess you can probably recognize these critters but we have a tiger and a grizzly bear.

Here we have a lion and a cougar head.

How's this for a large vertebrae? This is one vertebrae from a whale. Wow if your disc slipped it would be a HUGE back ache!

Now we move onto feet. On the left is the foot of a rhino, an elephant foot in the middle and a giraffe foot on the right. After a couple of weeks I'll return these to the museum and get some other mammals. My school children are loving our revolving museum this year. I'll have to admit even the adults including me are pretty fascinated to see God's wonderful creatures up close.

Mammals Part 1

Well I just checked out the first batch of mammals from BYU's museum. It has been a huge hit not only with my students but also with many visiting classes that have come into my room to view them as well. In the cat there is a ring tailed cat, a very large squirrel, a hedgehob, and an armadillo.

In this picture you can mostly see the wolverine and the badger. They are both very mean animals.

Here you can see a bobcat, a river otter, and a wolf.

In the back is an arctic fox and a little weasel in the front.

Christmas Around the World Part 3

The next country that did their presentations was Italy. These girls did a wonderful job in their presentation. They brought some yummy food. Italy was another country that we had a speaker for. Marianna is a foreign exchange student from Italy and she did a fabulous job. The kids all loved her. She was a little nervous but hopefully we made her feel comfortable. I think she had as much fun doing it as we had hearing from her. It was a very fun day.

The last country was France. These children told about traditions in France and the decorations they use. They told us about Pere Noel who is their gift giver. After they did their presentation I told the children a little more about France and their customs since Duane served his mission in France. When we were through we had a Yule log cake called Bushe de Noel. The children also brought other foods. Everything was delicious and enjoyed by all.

Shock!

Don't have a heart attack but I just blogged four months of events in my life! I think I made 12 posts today. Maybe within a couple of days I'll have a couple more. Stay tuned for more updates.