08-20-15 Storm clean-up and Arizona sunsets!

We had a Monsoon storm that took out an old dead tree in the side yard a few weeks back and I finally had a chance to take care of it.

I am becoming near expert level at "tree removal" and not much makes me feel more powerful and capable than welding a chainsaw! I am woman, hear me roar!!!!

In my excitement with removing said small dead tree in the first photo I decided to take out this bigger one that, as you can see, always hindered my view to the west from the porch. And it was just all dead and ugly. So although I didn't get it ALL removed and there is still about 2-3 feet of stump, I was exhausted by the time I finished all this. Plus I can't stop a tree project until I get all the limbs hauled off (to the side yard) and the ground raked so it all looks nice again, lol! But just the above before and after photo was totally enough for me to know this was absolutely the best decision!

Description on the photo says it all! Yay for mountain views! One of the biggest pros to living in the country!

Even though it is just August I LOVE fall! So even when it is still hot outside, the kids going back to school always gets me in "Fall" mode and indoor Fall home decor is possibly my all time favorite! So I made this center piece for our dining room table! And I am totally in love with it!

One day coming home from work and I was still on the porch and just walked across to look off to the west and see this gorgeous sunset! I love so many things about living out here and the glorious sunsets definitely make the top of the list!

XoXo,

Elizabeth

07-01-15 Major tree trimming & first tree removal!

Miss Bella enjoys being outside with me when I'm working on the grounds. I like having her nearby so that she might alert me to any critters nearby that I don't see myself first.

This is a midway picture of a tree that I cut down. 

On the left is a before shot of this pitiful, ugly dead tree. It was in the center, front of the house on the front side of the bamboo so it was the FIRST thing I saw every time I came home. I checked it out and there was no saving it. So I set out to chop it down. This was my first "tree removal" and just my 3rd time ever using a chainsaw.

Tree down!

Here are some pics of taking out that tree! Chain came off again but since I had figured out how to fix it last time I was able to quickly get it back on this time and proceed! A proud moment!

Before and after!

Then I took to the driveway area to trim the 4 trees to the right that lead to the house. Of them 3 looked pretty bad but salvageable and the one to the far left (which you can barely see because it has no green on it).

A lot done! Got it all gathered up into 2 piles. I was going to burn it like that then it dawned on me later that it all needs to be chopped up smaller before I can burn it and I should cut up some of it for fire wood!

Riley playing outside with his new airplane! I love anything that he does that gets him outside! =D

After getting the trees all trimmed up I fertilized them all!

Two of these trees have some root exposure which I can only assume is due to the aggressive east to west cross winds we get here regularly. So I'll need to figure out how to fix that and prevent it!

XoXo,

Elizabeth