Trees, Trees, Trees and I am still here!

One thing that a drought does to South Texas is the devastation to trees in our area. We have the 5 acres and maintain only 1 acre where the House, Studio, Garage, and Barn are located. The rest belongs to Mother Nature, but there are times when we have to have those acres cleared from the falling trees or limbs. This year we were prepared for an expensive tree cutting on the one acre that we maintain. In our area we have a lot of ’black jack oaks’ that tend to die/hollow out from the inside – then you find them crashing down! Clay has always keep trees away from the buildings to prevent damage.

With no end to the drought coming soon, we bit the bullet and hired our favorite guy to clear the trees that were really suffering, or dying. We are now at the total cutting to be close to 40 trees removed when they are finished. The count was originally 30, but as we studied the remaining trees we kept adding. They started on Wednesday the 16th and worked through the 19th of February. They came back on Tuesday the 22nd to very cold and damp weather and cut down the last tree in the yard and smoothed up the ruts made by the Bobcat as they moved the cuttings around to the Chipper and trailer where they chipped branches and loaded the cut up tree trunks. Juan and his crew are the hardest working guys, and so proficient in cutting down trees. Last year they cut down a 70 foot Pine. This week there was another 70’ foot pine in the back yard that they cut down.

It is something to watch the tree cutter climb this tree and start cutting it down. They have participated in Tree Cutting Competitions, so no wonder they do so well. It took them about 3 hours to cut this tree, and cut the trunk into manageable pieces. This is what it looks like now. We have left 4 pine trees in the yard. The trees in the background belong to the only neighbor close to us.

When I took this picture there was one tree left to be removed and they were able to do that on Wednesday before the cold really set in. The top looked OK, but as the got to the closer to the tree trunk it was obvious that it needed to come down. The trunk was completely hollow! Here are a few more pictures of how nice it looks without the trees with dead branches hanging down and possibly splitting and hitting the House or the Studio. You will notice there was no Sun. We have had 5 days of 30 degrees during the day and colder at night. Today (Sunday) we will have sun this afternoon and maybe be in the 50’s.

Notice I lost my shade trees – darn – but it is best. Clay will finish painting the barn when Spring arrives. The Tower is his Antenna for his Ham Radio. I want to put another North Folk Island Pine tree in my Pot on the Tree Stump! That would be if I can find one. We have one on the back porch, but even though we covered it, the tips and top were affected with the freezing weather this month. Drat!

Monday, Juan and crew will be back to clear out the fallen trees, tree branches and basically clean that up. There are a few trees that are dead and will be taken down. You might ask about the cost of having this work done. Let me say this about that! I will be sitting on the street corner collecting quarters! (old joke).

We are praying that we can survive this drought and that we have some heavy April Showers. I cannot find the pictures of how pretty the yard looked before the drought started in 2005. The grass is called Buffalo Grass and when we do get rain (as we have had every few years) the grass perks up and looks so pretty. May not happen this year. The area where my trees were will be zero landscaped with rocks like the rocks around the buildings.

Well, this is where I have been the last 2 weeks. I will do a quilting post later.

Have a great Sunday!

Hugs, Nanette

Linking To:  My Quilt Infatuation; Confessions of a Fabric Addict; Finished or Not Friday ; Em’s Scrap Bag; BOM’s Away;  Sew Fresh Quilts; Crazy Mom Quilts;  Oh Scrap; Scrap Happy Saturday; Slow Sunday Stitching  Quilt Fabrication Mid Week Makers; Peacock Party; Design Wall Monday, Scrap Happy Days, Quilting Patch Linky Party To-Do-Tuesdays;PHD in 2021;