Wreckage of the Back Yard
Saturday, March 18th, 2023 03:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snoozefestaudioI slept in until almost 3PM today, but it doesn't count as backsliding because I did so on purpose for the sake of my feet.
I wanted to give them the maximum time to recouperate from the week.
It went down to 07F last night before bed, and today is still a cold 23F and windy out there! Quite a slap in the face after it having been so springy earlier this month.
This was the first day I could look around the yard and say, yes this crap is all definitely going away... and the date is April 3rd!
Then it occured to me I've never shown you any photos, so here we go!..
Behold the fallen mulberry! In the upper left where chainlink meets wood fence is the south property line, and we are facing west. My yard is on the right.
You can also see the hole in the chainlink fence like a halo peeking out behind the base of the trunk.
This is what's left after I spent two & a half months hacking away at it with the chainsaw.
All those branches on the right are what I had to throw over from my neighbors yard in haste, late last October, after the vertical limb, that top cut on the trunk, rotated down into their yard.
As you can see, after I cut the last of that limb off in early November, the trunk rotated back to it's original position, with that cut facing skyward again.
--<>--
Another view of the fallen mulberry and the branch pile. On the right, you can also see some of the saplings growing along the chainlink fence that I want to cut down and chip up.
--<>--
We're facing east here, and my house is partial visible on the far left.
This is the other mulberry... referred to last fall as the mother mulberry. As you can see from that limb in the foreground with no bark on it... this thing is half dead.
And where that limb meets the trunk, there's a deep crevice of rotten wood. It's rotting out from the inside, just like the other one.
And you can see how it's grown at that steep angle, so gravity is gonna claim it, just like her brother, but she's twice as massive!
Fun fact, both these mulberry trees are offspring of one that was cut down in the 1990s. These two, according to Dad, were little saplings when he and Mom married, in 1958.
--<>--
The biggest logs that came out of cutting up the fallen mulberry were piled next to his sister, here behind the new shed. I had to dolly them over here. That biggest, vaguely Y-shaped one at lower left... probably weighs more than you do!
--<>--
Another pile of just staves, or 1st order branches, from the fallen mulberry. On average these are seven feet long.
The green shed on the left is the neighbors'. The rusy white one is ours. Both sheds date back to the 1970s, and are eyesores now.
--<>--
Looking north here, and at mid right, we see Yvette hitched up to her hitching post.
This is the brush pile.
It began when I cut down some saplings growing by the basement hatch door in 2019, but grew as I cut down more junk wood trees around the yard, and then exploded in size after I broke down a ton of branches from the mulberry.
--<>--
Another view of the brush pile from the front. Hard to judge scale, but it's a good 12 feet wide, and three feet high.
You can also see six of the seven saplings growing on the chainlink fence, in this photo.
All of them have to come down, because they're all either hackberry, or mulberry, and will grow into gigantic monsters if left to live.
------------{=0=}------------
Going back to link those entries from October and November, about the mulberry, triggered flashbacks to what was then, a huge trauma for me.
Of course Dad's broken hip fiasco and death was an even bigger trauma that made me forget about October & November, but... yeah!.. I've been through quite a shitstorm!
I'm still flying on a wing and a prayer right now, with all this debt, and only making $14.50 per hour, but... like I said last night... at least Dad's not around anymore to keep tripping me up!
I mean, it wasn't his fault, he was just getting old and dying, but good lord!.. I was buying poly rope on a credit card because it was all I could afford, and he was out there blowing all the mortgage money on Good 'N Funs!
A big part of the trauma with that tree was how little Dad seemed to care! He wasn't happy with me working even part time, and also spaced out when I talked about the tree, like... here he goes again, about that tree!.. Sigh!
It's like, YEAH, motherfucker!.. why didn't you clip it down in fucking 1958? It was right on the fence line!
--<>--
Well, at any rate, the loan money went into my savings account last night! I've got $800.00 in checking, and now, in savings... $34,900.00!
Nice to see, but scary that it's come at the cost of $780.00 per month... that will be taken straight out of my checking account! No way to run away from this one!
Still, that pain won't manifest until the savings is empty next year. So, worst case scenario... I'd have to go to BMO and do like a 30 year debt consolidation loan...
Pay off PNC, the old mortgage, the old HELOC, and get it all down to $500.00 a month? But that would be until I'm 83!
BUT... if there's nobody around to take over this old family home when I'm older, I could just do a reverse mortgage, I think.
The key is to maintain the credit score at all costs, and do everything in my power to increase the value of the house and the property.
--<>--
Back in 2019, when I was making $25.00 per hour, and materials were super cheep, the plan was to pay off the existing mortgage (hopefully Dad would live to do so) and then do all the improvements out of pocket!
But Covid came to drive up the prices of lumber and everything else.
Then I lost the job, due to a hostile corporate takeover, and Dad's failing health.
The shit economy stopped me from starting my own handyman business.
Dad's old age made it impossible to get another full time job.
And then he died, taking his pension and social security checks with him, and left me six thousand dollars!
--<>--
So yeah!.. here we are! It's looking like I will eventually just have to take out a 30 year mortgage, and never actually own this house.
So, the best plan is to keep that credit score above 800, through 2023, by making sure everything gets paid on time... And do as many improvements to the yard and the house as I can, to increase the value.
Then, if I must refinance the mortgage to survive, I'll get the best deal possible.
So, it's all about what I do this year! Even if I have to repay the personal loan WITH the personal loan!
Step one, is getting rid of the crap in the photos above!
°¦}
https://soundcloud.com/snoozefestaudio
I wanted to give them the maximum time to recouperate from the week.
It went down to 07F last night before bed, and today is still a cold 23F and windy out there! Quite a slap in the face after it having been so springy earlier this month.
This was the first day I could look around the yard and say, yes this crap is all definitely going away... and the date is April 3rd!
Then it occured to me I've never shown you any photos, so here we go!..
Behold the fallen mulberry! In the upper left where chainlink meets wood fence is the south property line, and we are facing west. My yard is on the right.
You can also see the hole in the chainlink fence like a halo peeking out behind the base of the trunk.
This is what's left after I spent two & a half months hacking away at it with the chainsaw.
All those branches on the right are what I had to throw over from my neighbors yard in haste, late last October, after the vertical limb, that top cut on the trunk, rotated down into their yard.
As you can see, after I cut the last of that limb off in early November, the trunk rotated back to it's original position, with that cut facing skyward again.
Another view of the fallen mulberry and the branch pile. On the right, you can also see some of the saplings growing along the chainlink fence that I want to cut down and chip up.
We're facing east here, and my house is partial visible on the far left.
This is the other mulberry... referred to last fall as the mother mulberry. As you can see from that limb in the foreground with no bark on it... this thing is half dead.
And where that limb meets the trunk, there's a deep crevice of rotten wood. It's rotting out from the inside, just like the other one.
And you can see how it's grown at that steep angle, so gravity is gonna claim it, just like her brother, but she's twice as massive!
Fun fact, both these mulberry trees are offspring of one that was cut down in the 1990s. These two, according to Dad, were little saplings when he and Mom married, in 1958.
The biggest logs that came out of cutting up the fallen mulberry were piled next to his sister, here behind the new shed. I had to dolly them over here. That biggest, vaguely Y-shaped one at lower left... probably weighs more than you do!
Another pile of just staves, or 1st order branches, from the fallen mulberry. On average these are seven feet long.
The green shed on the left is the neighbors'. The rusy white one is ours. Both sheds date back to the 1970s, and are eyesores now.
Looking north here, and at mid right, we see Yvette hitched up to her hitching post.
This is the brush pile.
It began when I cut down some saplings growing by the basement hatch door in 2019, but grew as I cut down more junk wood trees around the yard, and then exploded in size after I broke down a ton of branches from the mulberry.
Another view of the brush pile from the front. Hard to judge scale, but it's a good 12 feet wide, and three feet high.
You can also see six of the seven saplings growing on the chainlink fence, in this photo.
All of them have to come down, because they're all either hackberry, or mulberry, and will grow into gigantic monsters if left to live.
Going back to link those entries from October and November, about the mulberry, triggered flashbacks to what was then, a huge trauma for me.
Of course Dad's broken hip fiasco and death was an even bigger trauma that made me forget about October & November, but... yeah!.. I've been through quite a shitstorm!
I'm still flying on a wing and a prayer right now, with all this debt, and only making $14.50 per hour, but... like I said last night... at least Dad's not around anymore to keep tripping me up!
I mean, it wasn't his fault, he was just getting old and dying, but good lord!.. I was buying poly rope on a credit card because it was all I could afford, and he was out there blowing all the mortgage money on Good 'N Funs!
A big part of the trauma with that tree was how little Dad seemed to care! He wasn't happy with me working even part time, and also spaced out when I talked about the tree, like... here he goes again, about that tree!.. Sigh!
It's like, YEAH, motherfucker!.. why didn't you clip it down in fucking 1958? It was right on the fence line!
Well, at any rate, the loan money went into my savings account last night! I've got $800.00 in checking, and now, in savings... $34,900.00!
Nice to see, but scary that it's come at the cost of $780.00 per month... that will be taken straight out of my checking account! No way to run away from this one!
Still, that pain won't manifest until the savings is empty next year. So, worst case scenario... I'd have to go to BMO and do like a 30 year debt consolidation loan...
Pay off PNC, the old mortgage, the old HELOC, and get it all down to $500.00 a month? But that would be until I'm 83!
BUT... if there's nobody around to take over this old family home when I'm older, I could just do a reverse mortgage, I think.
The key is to maintain the credit score at all costs, and do everything in my power to increase the value of the house and the property.
Back in 2019, when I was making $25.00 per hour, and materials were super cheep, the plan was to pay off the existing mortgage (hopefully Dad would live to do so) and then do all the improvements out of pocket!
But Covid came to drive up the prices of lumber and everything else.
Then I lost the job, due to a hostile corporate takeover, and Dad's failing health.
The shit economy stopped me from starting my own handyman business.
Dad's old age made it impossible to get another full time job.
And then he died, taking his pension and social security checks with him, and left me six thousand dollars!
So yeah!.. here we are! It's looking like I will eventually just have to take out a 30 year mortgage, and never actually own this house.
So, the best plan is to keep that credit score above 800, through 2023, by making sure everything gets paid on time... And do as many improvements to the yard and the house as I can, to increase the value.
Then, if I must refinance the mortgage to survive, I'll get the best deal possible.
So, it's all about what I do this year! Even if I have to repay the personal loan WITH the personal loan!
Step one, is getting rid of the crap in the photos above!
°¦}
