THIS HELMET:
Not a lot of motorcycle action happening on the home front lately.
When hubby was at a Team Oregon class on Saturday March 2nd, I rode Max to coffee to try out the new helmet. So far, I am very pleased with it.
It was quieter than my Scorpion - and yes, I was wearing my earplugs. It just seemed to fit so well. My peripheral vision seemed wider and when I turned my head the helmet went with me, yay! One of the other things I noticed about fit was that I didn't have to keep grabbing the chin bar and tug it back up. The Scorpion used to slide down and give the image I was perpetually looking at my front tire even when I had 'eyes up'.
We thought about riding to coffee this last Saturday but woke up to 29˚F (-1.6˚C) and just couldn't muster the energy to suit up even knowing it would be sunny and warmer by the time we left coffee. We ended up driving to Eugene to the Home and Garden show and stopping at our favorite Triumph Dealer. Troubadour sat on and got to play with the features on the new Trophy. I didn't get any pictures though. And of course I ogled the new Street and Speed Triples.
THAT TREE:
A very large sequoia tree is what has been taking up our riding time. We have a very large four-trunk sequoia in the back corner of our yard that has seen better days. One trunk is leaning over the neighbors yard and even one towards our house. We've watch it grow over the last 6.5 years we've owned the house and it seems to slowly be taking over the yard.
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| (Sequoia in the backyard) |
We decided to get quotes to have it removed and booked the tree-ectomy for March 19th and 20th. The problem with actually booking a date was that we had to clean out underneath it. Not much grows under it so we've just used it for storing yard junk and home renovation leftovers.
To give you an idea of scale on how big it seems compared to the yard here is a wider view.
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| (Nice tree - wrong location) |
So for the last few free days we've been moving an entire pallet of bricks, a cubic yard of gravel, relocated a few shrubs to be out of the way of the tree service and moved a lot of wood debris from when we removed other smaller trees such as the stinky persimmon.
We've never taken out a tree that we haven't planted at least two to replace it though. The yard sure will look different in another 10 days. We'll feel a little bare over there but it will be nice to plan what to plant in its place.
It has cut into our riding time, but at least we have a three day weekend coming up and have the yard chores done. Hopefully the weather will hold out and we can go for a nice long ride.
Now.....where to go.........
- Au Revoir
" There is always Music amongst the trees in the garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it." - Minnie Aumonier
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Trobairitz:
ReplyDeleteWhen we moved to our current home our yard was overgrown with shrubs and many trees. I bought a chain saw and removed some of them. but left the stumps. Our shrubs were so big we took them out too. Then about 20 years ago we hired a "tree topping" service and had them topped at about 30 ft but still then cut off 80% of the light in our back yard, so it got dark early. By the time last year rolled around we still had half a dozen trees, one of which may have been 100 ft tall and I worried that it would tumble on our house. Now with our construction project they have all been removed and we have so much more light and our yard is much cleaner without all the tree droppings.
I know we shouldn't but cutting down all our trees but it is much cleaner and easier to manage. There is still one shrub in the front to be removed.
When your tree is gone you will have so much more room. It's amazing how much area can be reclaimed for better use
bob
Riding the Wet Coast
Sometimes the trees need to come out. That tree belongs in a forest not a residential neighborhood. Our neighbors have been in their house since it was built and that tree has always been there.
DeleteWe are already thinking what size appropriate tree we can plant as well as other shrubs too. We try to plant more than we take out.
Trobairitz: I worked as a tree surgeon for many years, when I wore a younger man's clothes, and it always hurt to cut some beautiful tree down. Still, often it was required: for many reasons, some of which were good. Your's falls into that category.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure the move will result in a betterment of your yard.
Now…. As to where to ride? Come to Maine! We need you! We have great rides! I cook great food!
What more reason do you need?
So…. When can we expect you two?
Ciao, Mike.
We have debating over this for years and it has just come to the point where it is never going to get smaller or less expensive so we might as well just do it. It is sad and I am sure the family of raccoons living in it will be mad, but there is a huge tree farm behind us they can migrate to.
DeleteRiding to Maine would be awesome, but alas we cannot get there and back in 3 days.
Those trees can be invasive as they grow too. Very pretty, but sometimes they must go.
ReplyDeleteWe have watched the circle of grass around it get smaller as the years have gone by so it is slowly killing off the rest of the yard. Not good. And is now shading some of our other trees so that they lean to get sunshine and rain. Poor tree. At least we have friends and neighbors who want the wood.
DeleteSo, I'm beginning to wonder what job Mike has NOT done.
ReplyDeleteIt is a shame to cut that beautiful tree down, but I don't live with it and if it is indeed tilting it could be a hazard. People need to be more careful when they plant things. If a person loves something enough to plant it, make sure to get the poor thing in a location that is totally appropriate. Some trees are taken down just at their peak of beauty because someone didn't think.
When I was little my father and I planted a redwood tree in the back yard. A couple years later we moved away. 40 years later- 40 YEARS- while visiting my hometown I drove by at the EXACT moment the current homeowners were cutting it down. Wow.
Wow, to go back and see it being cut down exactly 40 years later would be quite the sight indeed. I sure wish this one was a single trunk. It wouldn't spread out nearly as far in the yard. The four trunks spreading apart makes it wider than a lot of trees the same size.
DeleteWe cringe when driving by a house that has an evergreen planted just a few feet from it. They don't think of he size it will be in 20-30 years and what the roots might do.
The neighbors will be happy not to clean its mess up out of their yard and the roof of their shed anymore.
Will you keep any of the wood? I imagine it might be worth some $ for wood projects.
DeleteWe won't keep any of it as we don't have any way to process it. The neighbor does woodworking and so does his son and they have a woodstove in their woodworking shop to burn and bad bits with lots of knots.
DeleteOne of our good friends also works with wood and makes surf boards, etc. He is taking a few long sections and maybe even making a bar topper from a slab so it won't all go to waste.
Good luck with the tree. When my folks moved to Corvallis, there were four large trees like that in the yard threatening foundations on their home and the neighbors. My brother in-law found someone to remove them and I believe it required a crane.
ReplyDeleteWe have a power line easement right behind the fence/tree and technically they can bring in their trucks back there. If not, they will have to monkey up the trunks and cut it piece by piece.
DeleteLuckily they will chip the limbs and we can use it for mulch and then they are planning on stump grinding for us too. I'll post pictures of the process.
Brandy,
ReplyDeleteBest wishes for a good outcome. A few years back, I displayed stunning incompetence by cutting down a Eucalyptus in our back yard. Missed the neighbour's fence by a whisker, totally destroyed our 3 bin compost system, 2 of Jennie's favourite mature Azaleas and a Rosemary bush! Sold the chainsaw not long after that......
Sounds like you had a great adventure but I understand why your chainsaw privileges were revoked, lol.
DeleteThe size of it is one of the reasons we went with a tree service - they carry enough insurance in case it comes down on the neighbors shed or our house.
Brandy - think about a butterfly bush, they grow quite well, very little maintenance and you attract butterflies and hummingbirds. We have two in our front yard and I love them. They are very hearty too and don't require much in the line of care - which is good for me the original brown thumb gardner.
ReplyDeleteGlad you love your helmet! I am going to invest in a good set of custom earplugs.
We have one butterfly bush (buddleja/buddleia) in the yard. They are classified as invasive in Oregon so a few years ago all sales were banned. They only last year started to sell them again once a not spreading variety was developed and even then it is a different cultivar. I think they might look the same though.
DeleteI sure like the one we have. It smells just like honey when it is blooming. Somewhere I have pictures of it from a year or so ago with a big butterfly on it.
Holy cow, that tree is HUGE! It's gorgeous, though, shame about the location. But I understand. You're going to have so much more light back there.
ReplyDeleteYep, it's a biggun. Love the tree, but wrong location. It will be lighter and warmer in the summer too. I think the tree farm behind is will actually get more light in that spot too. I will be more than happy not to rake up needles all the time. Those things are pokey and sharp.
DeleteThat is a beautiful tree though I understand the need for it to come down.
ReplyDeleteI'm torn about trees in a yard; of course they belong there but then they don't. My mom abuses herself all autumn long raking leaves, and then she ends up raking the neighbor's leaves. Out here in the 'rural', we don't rake, not even once. Between the deer, our dogs, the goats, the raccoons, we've only struggled to keep a few of the many trees we've planted over the years. I refuse to ever plant another one. There are forests behind aand around us where trees grow (and die) as they're supposed to.
I'll forever admire those with trees in their yards. :)
Luckily we don't have to do much raking in the fall as the leaves from trees in the beds we leave there as mulch. Wildlife can be hard on the trees. Even the raccoons have done a number on the sequoia. I can understand why you wouldn't plant more especially when the deer want to eat them. That is why we had to put up wire fencing in the back. We caught 3 deer in the back yard nibbling on our favorite and most expensive tree when it was smaller.
DeleteI am sure we'll have over a dozen shrubs and trees in that corner when all is said and done. The weeding will be the worst though. Damn Oregon rain makes all the weeds grow like crazy too. We are hoping to use all the limb chippings from the trees to put in the beds as mulch and that should help keeps the weeds at bay.
We had a similar issue here at the condo. The "Developer" planted trees to make the place look good without regard to future outcomes. We had to have some very nice dogwoods taken out. Sad.
ReplyDelete~Keith
Nooooo, not the dogwoods...... They are such a pretty tree, but if they aren't in the right spot there isn't much else you can do. Especially if they are to big to transplant.
DeleteSome days I really envy you and condo living especially when we have too much yard work to do and it cuts into the riding time.
We've planted and removed trees from our yard too. One has to be "edited" every few years as it impedes on the fence between two neighbours so there was a lot of chainsawing last summer, but the results were worth it.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear that you are happy with the new helmet, sometimes you don't know until you wear something for a bit if it was worth the money...
There seems to be a circle of life for trees. We prune the ones we have plants but only to train them as they grow and to improve their shape. Keep the little cross branches out and such.
DeleteHoping to go on a longer ride this weekend and I'll have a better review of the helmet. First impressions are good though.
Sorry to see that giant sycamore go, but I totally understand. We went through this with a Willow tree that our neighbor planted. It was right near the lot line and was really taking over both backyards very quickly. They grow like weeds here in s. Texas with all the rain we get. But sanity prevailed. Best of luck with the tree-ectomy!
ReplyDeleteOoooh willows can get out of control can't they? Some times the poor trees just need to go. As I've said, we'll replace it with more trees and shrubs so at least there will still be greenery to filter the air and be a haven for the birds.
DeleteYay - new helmet and yard space!! On your ride - don't go too far, the hubs is home and I know if it is nice, he'll want to play :o)
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, forgot your hubby was coming home. Are you guys going to be at coffee on Saturday?
DeleteTrobairitz ... I always hate to kill a living thing (I can't even euthanize a house plant,) but sometimes you gotta think, it's just a tree and as long as you plant another to replace it you will be happy, the earth will be happy and the neighbors will be happy (win, win, win). I'm kind of lucky, living outside suburbia ... the trees on my front lawn are ancient and when they fall we burn them. Even luckier, I live at the top of a windy hill and all my leaves blow ... somewhere else (and if they don't, we mow them first time with the grass in spring.) Out here, nobody cares about leaves (unless you're riding a motorcycle down the road, then you need to be careful, wet leaves are as slick as ice on the road.)
ReplyDeleteI hate to kill trees too, but at least by taking out this one trees the rest of the shrubs in the yard will get more water and sunshine and thrive and we'll replace it with even more greenery. Today is the day, they are coming out today and tomorrow. Will look different when I get home from work.
DeleteAnd yes, wet leaves are darn slippery on the roads.