Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Jim's New Toy...


...Is a Polaris Razer (side by side) that we just purchased (2nd hand).  It has a heated cab, winch, 6 foot snow blade and a dump box.  It even has seat belts!!  I know Jim must be truly concerned for my safety for when I'm out there clearing snow. We are now all set, even though it is +32 with a humidex of +40 today, -32 with a windchill of -40 is just around the corner.  In the meantime, we are planning on using it to haul around the weed sprayer and the seeder and maybe even a smaller water tank so that the trees can be watered without having to drive around with the truck.  Oh yes, the snow blade is very easy to remove and re-install. I'm sure I'll be learning that little trick real soon.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

The Saga of Summer Landscaping Continues..

Jim borrowed the neighbours tractor and started digging the pond in the back yard.  He has gone as far as the tractor can go and one of our other neighbours will dig it a bit deeper with his skid steer.  It is about 30 feet long and 15 feet wide and hopefully, will provide water for the trees in a dry year.  The soil that was dug is lovely rich top soil that has been spread in various places around the yard to fill in low spots or along either side of the driveway to make the ditches a little more shallow so that I won't fall off the mower when I cut the grass.  Jim really knows how to take the thrill out of a girls life.  Once all the pond digging is done, we will line the area with thick plastic (pond liner) that we'll keep in place with the rocks and stones that we've continuously picked from the yard so that we could mow it.
 Allan was out for part of the weekend and we took the opportunity to press him into service to spread some washed rock, that we had left over from the weeping tile, along the west side of the house.  first a layer of fiberglass fabric was put down to discourage the weeds.  This should keep the area neat and tidy, the weeds at bay and we won't have to manoeuvre the mower around the air conditioner.