Little Shed That Could
Wednesday, June 14th, 2023 11:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snoozefestaudio71F this morning, and sunny. We didn't get much or any rain overnight, and now the weather's returning to normal.
The cotton is still sailing around out there, pretty furiously. Even the drizzles yesterday, didn't completely stop it.
Looks like today I can get back to work out there.
Maybe I should finally bring that chipper outside and make room for it in the shed... rearrange stuff, and make more use of that peg board.
From what I've seen in the videos, I will have to break branches down quite a bit before I feed them in. So... each tree will be fairly time consuming.
And the wood rack is only 14" deep so, I have to cut the trunks up into 14" sections, which will also take some time.
It's probably not what I want to be doing when it's 90F with 80% humidity and no breeze.
My drive to rid the yard of overgrowth, in the name of more field crickets, may not motivate me as much as it should, because I've noticed that, two doors north, that neighbor has decided not to mow the back third of his lawn at all this year!
There is... probably a 400 square foot section of his yard where the grass is chest high right now.
So no matter what I do in my yard, that patch of his yard is gonna be screaming with monotonous bush crickets in August and September.
However, it is so tall that... it may possibly attract grasshoppers?
And if so, that could make the soundscape more interesting in a different way.
------------{=0=}------------
8:42PM
I came straight home after work, and after walking the dog, I rolled the wood chipper out the front door, down the front stoop, and around back to the shed.
Then I spent a good while rearranging everything in the shed, but I got it to fit!
Here it is, right in the corner, next to the shovel rack.
And if you're wondering what that white box is... it's ear protection... still in the box.
I rearranged the peg board and managed to get the four foot ladder up off the floor.
Plenty of space there for the hose reel, and the shovels I use most are still easily accessible.
Those old saws and pitchfork on the left, along with the pickaxe and hatchet on the right came from the old shed, and date back to my 2G grandfather... the guy who built the house.
On the right side, the dolly, and plenty of open shelf space... tamping tool and sledge hammer... and a crate with all the rope I used on the fallen mulberry last fall.
I put a couple old, rusty tools out on the curb, along with the damaged chainlink fabric, so... hopefully the scrappers will snatch that up in the next 24 hours.
I then took a break and sat on the firepit, drinking a beer... and then I noticed that there is already grass growing from the seed I put down in the first ruts a week ago!...
Hard to see from standing up, especially with cottonwood seed all over the ground, but... those are tiny new blade-lings of grass!
YAAASSS!!!
All of this irrigation bullshit, and the huge water bill are going to be worth it!
Lastly, I removed the bricks from the barbecue grass mat!
Always a huge milestone!.. and I'm looking forward to the day I remove them from the mat on the old shed site!
------------{=0=}------------
In other news, my new desktop tower has shipped.
I gonna need a keyboard & mouse, some speakers, and a monitor for it.
But I'm gonna look for a used monitor, because... fuck how expensive everything is today!
Those bags of grass seed cost $60.00 each! The girl at Home Depot was shocked when she saw it come up on the register, and thought it was a mistake!
And I just had to buy ink for my very basic printer last night, and even the black cartridge was, again... $60.00!
So... I'm not in the mood to blow another hundred-twenty bucks!.. on a goddam monitor!
------------{=0=}------------
Have I mentioned the lightning bugs are back?
I saw several back there over the weekend.
Now that I'm done going back there at night to check the timers, I've turned off the back yard flood lights for June and July.
And that's to encourage the lightning bugs to hang out back there... and breed... and make more lightning bugs!
------------{=0=}------------
Okay, so this was all very good for a Wednesday!
The little shed's gonna be able to safely house the hoses, and wood chipper next winter, along with everything else.
The grass seed is actually growing!..
So, the elaborate plan, involving a dump truck, hoses, timers, a seed spreader, etc... is actually working!... and worth it!
And... now I gotta go shop for a cheep used monitor!
Talk to you tomorrow!
°¦}
https://soundcloud.com/snoozefestaudio
The cotton is still sailing around out there, pretty furiously. Even the drizzles yesterday, didn't completely stop it.
Looks like today I can get back to work out there.
Maybe I should finally bring that chipper outside and make room for it in the shed... rearrange stuff, and make more use of that peg board.
From what I've seen in the videos, I will have to break branches down quite a bit before I feed them in. So... each tree will be fairly time consuming.
And the wood rack is only 14" deep so, I have to cut the trunks up into 14" sections, which will also take some time.
It's probably not what I want to be doing when it's 90F with 80% humidity and no breeze.
My drive to rid the yard of overgrowth, in the name of more field crickets, may not motivate me as much as it should, because I've noticed that, two doors north, that neighbor has decided not to mow the back third of his lawn at all this year!
There is... probably a 400 square foot section of his yard where the grass is chest high right now.
So no matter what I do in my yard, that patch of his yard is gonna be screaming with monotonous bush crickets in August and September.
However, it is so tall that... it may possibly attract grasshoppers?
And if so, that could make the soundscape more interesting in a different way.
I came straight home after work, and after walking the dog, I rolled the wood chipper out the front door, down the front stoop, and around back to the shed.
Then I spent a good while rearranging everything in the shed, but I got it to fit!
Here it is, right in the corner, next to the shovel rack.
And if you're wondering what that white box is... it's ear protection... still in the box.
I rearranged the peg board and managed to get the four foot ladder up off the floor.
Plenty of space there for the hose reel, and the shovels I use most are still easily accessible.
Those old saws and pitchfork on the left, along with the pickaxe and hatchet on the right came from the old shed, and date back to my 2G grandfather... the guy who built the house.
On the right side, the dolly, and plenty of open shelf space... tamping tool and sledge hammer... and a crate with all the rope I used on the fallen mulberry last fall.
I put a couple old, rusty tools out on the curb, along with the damaged chainlink fabric, so... hopefully the scrappers will snatch that up in the next 24 hours.
I then took a break and sat on the firepit, drinking a beer... and then I noticed that there is already grass growing from the seed I put down in the first ruts a week ago!...
Hard to see from standing up, especially with cottonwood seed all over the ground, but... those are tiny new blade-lings of grass!
YAAASSS!!!
All of this irrigation bullshit, and the huge water bill are going to be worth it!
Lastly, I removed the bricks from the barbecue grass mat!
Always a huge milestone!.. and I'm looking forward to the day I remove them from the mat on the old shed site!
In other news, my new desktop tower has shipped.
I gonna need a keyboard & mouse, some speakers, and a monitor for it.
But I'm gonna look for a used monitor, because... fuck how expensive everything is today!
Those bags of grass seed cost $60.00 each! The girl at Home Depot was shocked when she saw it come up on the register, and thought it was a mistake!
And I just had to buy ink for my very basic printer last night, and even the black cartridge was, again... $60.00!
So... I'm not in the mood to blow another hundred-twenty bucks!.. on a goddam monitor!
Have I mentioned the lightning bugs are back?
I saw several back there over the weekend.
Now that I'm done going back there at night to check the timers, I've turned off the back yard flood lights for June and July.
And that's to encourage the lightning bugs to hang out back there... and breed... and make more lightning bugs!
Okay, so this was all very good for a Wednesday!
The little shed's gonna be able to safely house the hoses, and wood chipper next winter, along with everything else.
The grass seed is actually growing!..
So, the elaborate plan, involving a dump truck, hoses, timers, a seed spreader, etc... is actually working!... and worth it!
And... now I gotta go shop for a cheep used monitor!
Talk to you tomorrow!
°¦}
