Enjoying Country Life

I didn't mention it last weekend...come to think of it, I didn't mention much of anything about last weekend...but more work was done in Front Royal.

The 'screen porch' had been the scene of an attempted takeover by nature.  In this case, by tent caterpillars.  They had to be knocked down with a broom and swept out.  I can report that not all of them perished in the process, but that they were not cooperative.  They had made webby areas all over the porch so it was like walking through spider webs with the added fear that a caterpillar would fall on my head.  Ew.

The porch is now astroturfed.  We can't figure out why none of the switches in the kitchen seem to control the ceiling fan wiring on the porch.  This was the source of great consternation.  I suppose we will have to call the builder about that an the missing bit in the kitchen.  I hate even thinking about that.  It is such a pain in the ass to actually get a hold of these people.  Grrr...

We also bought a vacuum.  I suspect Tino will be writing up an essay about the vacuum cleaner in the near future.  It is a very expensinve vacuum cleaner, but it is very trick.  I've used it, and I'd say it's worth the $300, as unlikely as that sounds.  It sucks mightily (a good thing in this case) and it has a HEPA filter.

Today we planted the tree.  It lived in Santa's Own Yardcart for some time longer than it should have, but it had new growth all over it, so I guess it's OK.  

It was, of course, an adventure.

We drove the tractor to the chosen location with a cart full of tools.  We dug the hole where we wanted to put the tree[1].  We went back to fetch the tree and the mulch...and this is when things got more interesting.  During the time we were positioning the tractor on the slope and digging the hole, the no-see-ums attempted to eat us.  We even brought a freaking citronella candle out there to the site, anticipating the bugs in the tall grass on the slope.  It did not help one bit.

So, back to fetching the tree.  The tree is very heavy.  It was heavy enough that the tractor was unable to pull the trailer containing the tree up to the place we had just dug the hole, so we had to dig a different hole.  This one contained many more rocks and was harder to get to the planting point, but eventually, Mr. Tree was dumped off the back of the tractor spang into the hole with no more tree wresting necessary, thank goodness.

Mr. Tree was composted, mulched and given more water.  I wish him well in his permanent home.  He is dwarfed by the trees around him, so I hope he doesn't feel inferior.  He can be proud of being the only conifer in that acre.