It rained and rained and rained some more

I must have jinxed the area by saying the D word (drought) in my last post. Too bad I had taken in my rain gauge in anticipation of the landscape work, but I do know areas north of me received 9" while farther south it was more like 4". That is a lot of rain, but since it has been dry, little flooding. Instead, the near hurricane force winds (60 mph) caused tree damage. My yard was relatively unscathed except for one of the redbud trees, which lost the limb holding the wren house. Fortunately, no one had chosen it for a second brood. Unfortunately, some baby bluejays met their demise from a nest in the elm tree. Oh, and the basketball hoop in the driveway fell over.

The landscapers removed the limb. From what I read online, it is best to let the tree heal itself rather than cover the wound with tar or some other substance. Hopefully, it will recover.

As you may have gathered from the previous paragraph, YES, the landscapers are here. So far, they have been removing what amounts to a jungle of growth. I didn't realize how much grapevine had invaded the arborvitae, leaving a big gap of bare branches. They are not dead, though, so I am hoping with some exposure to light and air, the shrubs will fill in, much like the gold mop did when I cut out the burning bush that was crowding it.


Something I had not counted on was how unobtrusive the workers are. Most of the work is being done by hand - shovels, picks, rakes - and what power tools they do have - chain saws, weeders - are electric. No Bobcats, no dump trucks, no lawn getting torn up. The root balls on some of the trees are large enough that they will use an auger to dig the holes, but otherwise, very quiet and peaceful, not like my usual experience with contractors.

Between storms, I cleaned out gutters. The last time I did that, my SO wrangled the ladders and spotted me. He was out of town this past week, though, and I could tell several downspouts were plugged. I had to put on my big girl panties and do it by myself, wondering how much longer I can keep that up. I'll be 70 this fall.

I have been taking pictures as the landscaping progresses; I'll post those once everything is done.