Trees

A part of the site plan for this neighborhood was to have tree lined streets. This week the landscaper came by to replace the 'little white flags' with real trees. The actual installation was pretty interesting. A small backhoe was used to dig each hole, and I could hear the bucket screech against all of the rocks buried in the soil. Once the tree was in the hole, the operator deftly moved the dirt around the tree and used the base of the bucket to tamp it into place. I timed the last one, it took just over two minutes from breaking the soil to backing away for the next one. He has over seventy trees to install.

Now, I also worked in the soil this week. I built a small 4x8 platform to support "Dave's Playhouse" under the new deck. The pressure treated wood deck is support by six concrete piers. The two piers closest to the house had to be sunk about a foot into the ground. It probably took me as long to break through the rocks for those two holes as it took the landscaper to do the whole street. This is much different then the red 'clay pot' stuff we were accustomed to in Georgia. The "tool cabinet" itself was a snap together kind of thing. The trick was to carefully read each instruction step. Otherwise you might end up prying it apart as often as putting it together. (I recommend a really large screw driver to release the locking tabs...just in case you decide that the assembly looks pretty straight forward and don't need to bother with the instructions.)

...and some additional gardening was done this week by my Mom. She came by and planted 15 daffodil bulbs in the front garden. It will be nice to see what her effort looks like in the spring.