The first clip shows my progress on clearing brush and junk trees away from the big oaks. The second is an example of the massive vines that are everywhere on this acreage.
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Chainsaw Fun
Dismantling Big Ass Tree
A month or so back a limb broke off a big tree and blocked the road leading into our neighborhood of fifteen homes. The homeowner cleared the limb quickly but it was obvious there would be more falling he decided to have the tree taken down and today was the day.
The work was done by Korte Tree Care (the guys I use) and the crew made short work of this big ass tree, thanks to one amazing piece of equipment. I’m told the big truck cost about half a million bucks. Easy to believe watching it work. The operator appeared to be controlling it via Bluetooth unit at his waist so he could move around and see what he was doing.
They hauled off the really big sections of the trunk and left what you see here for the homeowner to use as firewood. Gonna need a big splitter.
More big rocks (revisited)
It’s been a few weeks since I showed you the other big rocks hidden on the north side of The Annex and I think it’s a little easier to appreciate the geology in the short (30 sec?) video below.
The other three sides of the house got more attention for some reason so I fired up my chainsaws and started cleaning some of the brush (Mostly wild Honeysuckle, brambles and dead cedar trees). The short clip below is a before/after look and not one tree was felled during this clean-up.
After the first hard freeze, when the bugs are dead or in Florida, I’ll take a video stroll through the new acreage.
Autumn 2021
What the birds see
My buddy George has been playing with drones for about eight years. (You can see some of his amazing video here, here and here.) In 2015 he got his drone snagged in a very tall tree while shooting some video of our place. So I was a little surprised when he agreed to come back and shoot some video of our recently expanded homestead.
As you might imagine, the technology has gotten a lot better in the last half dozen years and George has gotten even better at flying the things. The video below runs right at 2:30.
This was shot from an altitude of about 400 feet so the drone was just a black dot but the quality of the video was even better than what I’m streaming here.
I love trees. I love being surrounded by them. And I’ve tromped around our acreage over the years so I know there’s a bunch of them. But it took this birds eye view to give me a real sense of just how many trees surround us.
More big rocks
A couple of weeks ago I posted some photos of a big rock on our newly acquired property. The previous owners built their house around this formation. Since then we’ve discovered another big rock on the other side (and behind) of the house. Hard to see because it’s covered in about forty years worth of dead leaves, Honeysuckles, and brambles.
We still have work to do but Rock #2 is finally getting some love.
The 20 second clip below shows what the formation looks like before and after some clean up.
Goodbye old pine tree
We had a few trees removed today. Couple of dead/dying cedar trees and the big pine tree shown above. About half the limbs on this tree were dead and it was too close to the power line to take a chance. Once down we could see the tree was rotting from the inside so we made the right call.
On another part of the property there was a big (ugly) cedar tree in the middle of some gorgeous oak trees. It won’t be missed.
Our thanks to Cedric and his crew from Korte Tree Care. If you’re wondering, he’s wearing a “hard” cowboy hat.
Rocks and Trees
The Annex was designed as an earth-contact home with a big ass rock as the defining feature. It is a cool rock and serves (for me) as a reminder of the impermanence of my existence.
But those giant oak trees. For years the previous owner allowed ivy vines to cover these beautiful trees. Very damaging to the trees over time.
So my first task after closing was to cut the vines. The tree guy we use assures me the vines will die in coming months and within a year the dead vines and leaves will fall from the tree.
We’ve been calling the rock “Dwayne.”
The best neighbor… is no neighbor
We’ve been living in our home for 35 years. We built it in 1986 on about 3.5 acres of wooded land (A). In January of 2020 we purchased an additional 3 acres (B) when the lady who owned it died. Our closest neighbors (a woman and her adult daughter) have been talking about selling their home (C) for a couple of years but never seemed serious, until this year when they bought a house in “in town,” as we used to say.
One day a couple of months ago she told us she was going to put her home on the market. When she told me the asking price, I said we’d buy it. No inspection, no appraisal, no haggling. We closed on the sale yesterday at noon. We haven’t told many about the purchase because it happened pretty fast. But the first question is always, “So, what are you going to do with the property? Sell it? Rent it?” The answer is, nothing. The woman and her daughter are — in all likelihood — the last people who will ever live in that house. Why, you might ask?
Have you ever lived next to a really bad neighbor? It can make every day a living hell. But you could sell the place to some nice folks, you say. But you can’t control to whom they sell it, I reply. No, the best neighbor is no neighbor. And we didn’t buy the property for the house. We bought it for the towering, hundred-year-old oak trees. I think of it as a tiny nature preserve. The thought of someone cutting down those trees so their whiny little brats can have a swimming pool was… unthinkable. Or coming home to that TRUMP 2024 sign every day. Or their pit bull terrorizing our dog. No way, Jose.
To my way of thinking, we don’t really own the land. We own the privilege of living on it. Or saying who does or does not live on it. But we are nothing more than temporary stewards. And as we enter our Golden Years, Barb and I place great value on privacy. How does one put a price on something so precious? Oh yeah, did I mention the quiet? You can hear your heart beat. And at night the only light you can see is a yard light a mile or so away.
So we called the propane people to come get their tank. A plumber will winterize the house. The phone and electric are disconnected. And we’ll start giving away the appliances. What remains will be a big old storage building I’ve been calling The Annex.
This chapter is just beginning so watch this space for updates.