#74 While I was getting set up someone tried to take over my spinning.... I think he may have been attracted to the smell of the oil, as he was really interested in the narrow opening there. 

#73 After cutting back that stairwell I felt I deserved to rest and relax awhile, so brought out my spinning wheel, favorite spinning chair, and a stool to put my drink and fibre on. It was wonderful to enjoy the views while I enjoyed the spinning. 

#72 This is a bit further out from #71, but the same area of the Juniper. Notice how it's so long that it sticks up into the Damson Plum trees. 

#71 At the bottom of the stairwell more has yet to be cut back, and some of these are thick and long too.  

#70 Some branches were small enough to cut with hedge trimmers, but some, like this one, had to be cut with a hand saw. This is 2 1/2" x 3".  

#69 And the stairwell...  

#68 A shot from the other side (#66, #67) 

#67 See how much more open it looks now from what it did in #66. 

#66 This is the Spreading Junipers after the walkway was cut thru but before I cut them back in the stairwell. Some were grown right thru the chain link fencing and may have been what was holding it up :o) 

Wonderful Wednesday - April 26, 2006

Today I not only did some more work in my yard, but also took some time to enjoy relaxing out there. It's been a long time since I just spent time out in my yard without doing something like looking after animals or shoveling snow. This was really nice for a change and I look forward to spending more enjoyment time out there in the future as the yard continues to improve.

I think it was 1993, or close to it, that the tire retaining wall was built. The wall there when I bought this place in 1990 was about 3' high, made of wood 4x4's. It looked okay at the time I bought, but it soon began to fall down as it was rooting away. There also was a very steep hill from the retaining wall up to the bit of flat land by the home itself, and I found this very hard to keep weeded and impossible to mow, often slipping and falling down on the steep grade. In '93 I was going out with Rob (as he went by here, Bob as he was known to family and long time friends), and he came up with the idea of the tire wall as it would never rot and was free, all you had to do was collect old tires from local tire shops... which we did. I must admit, I could never have built this wall without help, and Rob did a lot of work for me. We built it in the same exact spot as the original wall, and made the ends the same height as that wall had been. The middle, however, we built to just over 6' high, coming back into the hill at each end of the 6' area. We even made a stairwell, but unfortunately stairs have never been put there. Then, we hauled wheelbarrows full of dirt from the back hill into this area to back fill behind the huge wall as we built it. The tires are laid like bricks and each tire is stuffed with dirt. A lot of work went into this wall, you should have seen my muscles!

Over the years since then, the Spreading Junipers have grown and... spread! I've told you about cutting back part of them, and today I did even more. The stairwell is now open and Dan has said he'll help me make some steps for in there. The stairway will go from by the carport down to the orchard.

#65 Last night, after PatZ left and I'd rested my poor sore body awhile, I went out and transplanted my Rainbow Swiss Chard and Buttercrunch Lettuce, as well as some peas. (#55) 

#64 Cherry blossoms. Some of what you see are on my place, some on the neighbors. I notice I have a lot of young trees coming up that seeded themselves. This is good as one of my cherry trees is dead and needs to be removed, and the other one is partly dead. It needs to be cut back severely or removed. The neighbors cut their trees back severely a few years ago and now they are beautiful again. 

#63 You can see the Virginia Creeper vines laying down there on the ground. Once the fence is up I will tie these up so they can grow back up again. I hated to cut them back, especially at this time of the year, but it had to be done. In a year or two they'll be growning like crazy again, and in fact may grow better and faster for having been cut back. 

#62 Junk from #12 piled up to be loaded into the utility trailer and taken to the dump.  

#61 This tire is still there as it's filled with cement, used to have a fence post in it. I'm not sure just yet what I'll do with this one. Maybe lay it on it's side and put a lawn ornament on it, or leave it as it is to sit on when working down there... we'll see. (#12: for where the other tires in #12 went, see #60) 

#60 These tires used to be part of the retaining wall, the part that had to be destroyed to get to the septic tank and line. PatZ and I stacked them back in place, though we didn't fill them with dirt again. You can see some of the tires that are packed with dirt. A former boyfriend helped me build this big wall in about 1993.  

#59 Monday, April 24th, my good friend PatZ came out and helped me with some yard work. She and untangled all the Virginia Creeper vines from the chain link fence that the Bobcat had knocked over the retaining wall some time ago. It had some vines on it then and looked really nice, but as it hung down the drop more vines have grown onto it and needed to be taken off so I can put the fence back up again. The landscape ties and cardboard are where the raised bed garden will eventually be. 

#58 Another view of the Strawberry patch/Herb garden. The post that is now there was laying on it's side before, it's cemented in the tire and was knocked over by the Bobcat. Ron helped me put it back up, took both of us as it's very heavy. 

#57 Strawberry patch/ Herb garden (#46, #22) 

#56 This is the little garden we made... now, do I plant lettuces here, or peas... hhhmmm. 

#55 This beautiful little plant is one in the flower bed along the driveway. 

#54 Another view of the driveway (#53 & others noted there) 

#53 Here's my driveway. I've been moving day lilies from by the house down the driveway. This is after Ron helped my plant another wheelbarrow load of them I had dug up, and some iris plants I'd also dug up previously. (#1, #25, #38, #39, #40) 

#52 All the weed I pulled earlier were stacked up waiting for me to wrap them in a tarp and get them out where they can be loaded and taken to the dump. Too bad I can't burn here due to stupid laws. Ron is helping me wrap and carry the weeds. 

#51 This is Ron, looking at the mess and trying to figure out where to start. I pulled megga weeds here this spring. (#21) 

#50 The spreading Junipers were cut back to about the end of the sidewalk, Ron and I cut it back further to make a walk way to the back yard. (#41)