Controlled Burning of Underbrush Cuttings

On October 19 of 1995, the day after finishing his bridge, Pieter started burning the underbrush cuttings.

Controlled that is, as he alway had the pump and hoses ready for putting any wildfire out in no time!

We were joking about it being an early Saint Martin's Fire (November 11) and that my nephews all would enjoy 'helping' Pieter with this!

Related links:Building a Bridge in Two Days | previous post from bridge ready the day before Controlled Burning...Jungle Clearing and Discovery of Tires | previous postJungle Clearing | previous post from two months earlierOur Garden at the Time we had Access to Spent Mushroom Compost | the Vedder Estate on video by Middle Georgia Magazine after ALL the hard work got done...Non Glamorous Wheelbarrow Job for Filling and Raising Swampy Parts | previous post by meThe FIGHT of Growing Grass in Subtropical Georgia/USA | previous post by me

Building a Bridge in Two Days

 With all the work to be done in the adjacent lot across the creek, Pieter did built a bridge for easier access.

Complete with handrail and also continuing wood trail for walking into the wood garden.

Now Pieter has easier access for starting to clear the final part of the jungle, as seen in the end of the video.As previously, best watched on YouTube where you can find clickable points with info written below video.As stated at 0:49 that Pieter estimated that this height would be enough for any flooding of the creek... NOT SO as it turned out later!

August 22, 1998 with 22 cm or 8.66 inch of rain...

Mother Nature in action and the creek's water ran OVER the road...

On September 9, 1998 Pieter improved the bridge again, after the above flood damage.

He also supported the sided by using wooden boards that came with our solid oak furniture by boat.

Filled up with bricks that also ended up in our creek and then lots of soil.

Showing you those boards...

Oh, we had to start all over again so often...

Related links:{Our Damage from Tornado spin off of Hurricane Earl, 2003} | previous post by me with final sentence: Building paradise is not that easy... but we did start all over again{IMPACT and AFTERMATH of TROPICAL THUNDERSTORMS} | previous post by me211 Countries Visited - Welcome Marshall Islands  & Hurricane Michael visited us... | previous post by meJungle Clearing and Discovery of Tires | previous postJungle Clearing | previous post from two months earlierOur Garden at the Time we had Access to Spent Mushroom Compost | the Vedder Estate on video by Middle Georgia Magazine after ALL the hard work got done...Non Glamorous Wheelbarrow Job for Filling and Raising Swampy Parts | previous post by meThe FIGHT of Growing Grass in Subtropical Georgia/USA | previous post by me

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Argiope Aurantia

 Our Garden Critters that I want to share with you...

Argiope Aurantia or Black and Yellow Argiope Spider

What a beauty!

You clearly can see why they also call it the zigzag spider...

Pieter took an excellent photo of it.

Related link:

Black and Yellow Argiope Spider | previous post by me

Jungle Clearing and Discovery of Tires

 After coming back from two weeks of consulting work in Indonesia, Pieter was again very active in our wood garden. 

Well, trying to create a wood garden that is, as it was really just jungle clearing and the nasty discovery of tires, that got dumped there by someone... 

Again, better to watch on YouTube for using the clickable points below that I've built in with info.Fighting the  thorny lianas from the Greenbrier and excavating a Fox Hill, as Pieter named it, for filling in deeper sections and grading the lot.
This gives you an idea what all needed to be done before we had our walk ways there and being able to plant something that we liked.
Related links:Jungle Clearing | previous post from two months earlierOur Garden at the Time we had Access to Spent Mushroom Compost | the Vedder Estate on video by Middle Georgia Magazine after ALL the hard work got done...Non Glamorous Wheelbarrow Job for Filling and Raising Swampy Parts | previous post by meThe FIGHT of Growing Grass in Subtropical Georgia/USA | previous post by me

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail - Georgia State Butterfly

Come  enjoy this special Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly in our rock garden.

Yes, it is our Georgia State Butterfly!

Indulging in the nectar from the Sedum spectabile...Hope you enjoyed this 1:32 short video!
Related link:Trip to Zitácuaro in Michoacán, México for Viewing Monarch Butterflies | previous post by me{Out of Body Experience} | previous post, showing the Giant Swallow Tail, Papilio cresphontes Cramer{Our Buddleja Davidii- Butterfly Bush} | previous post by me

Pieter Plays Organ in Bandung Indonesia

On Sunday, June 24 in 1995 while doing consulting work in Indonesia we went with one of the staff people to visit Retreat House Pratista, Cimahi, near Bandung, Indonesia.

There was a Dutch speaking pastor at this Crosier Monastery or Monastery of the Order of the Holy Cross (Kruisheren in Dutch).

When Pieter spotted the organ, he just started playing... without any music, just by heart!

Hope you enjoy this 1:37 minute video.

Starting video with the different Cross they use, not one of the suffering Christ!

The staff member seen in this video became our house guest end of August, the day after my sister and significant other left, after staying four weeks with us.On Saturday August 26, 1995 he flew with us together to San Francisco. On Sunday we got picked up, for going to Santa Cruz where Pieter did a Phase I and Phase II seminar for Campbell Soup for 54 participants. Those were tough one-man shows for Pieter doing it solo for two days and half a day a farm tour towards the end.Pieter did wear a Batik shirt, my sewing creation. The late Pastor Vermuilen was looking on...
Related link:{My Batik Creations} | previous post where I show Pieter's batik shirt as my sewing creation

Jungle Clearing

 Husband Pieter never shied work...

On June 3, 1995 Pieter started clearing our jungle. The adjacent lot across the creek that also became our property. Pioneering work as no one EVER lived there! 

To the right in below video you see already how he'd opened up after he'd cut the underbrush and had done some 'logging'...

Again, if you watch it on YouTube, you find below the clickable points.Using his electric chain saw, with a long extension cord and the very powerful long-handled jungle machete.~My Dad flew home in March of 1993 with such an orange extension cord, that he loved so much. Back home in The Netherlands he would only have to change the plug.Since it is rather stiff, we had given Dad a nylon zippered sports bag to carry it.In Atlanta at the Airport screening point, a black lady wanted to take it away from Dad. She claimed it was a weapon! Yeah, can you see a 72-year old passenger strangling someone with an extension cord?So both of us stepped in and asked for the manager.He came and said, NO it's not a weapon and it is not even on the list!Dad got almost a nervous attack and was so glad that he got cleared...~That lot was far from 'even' as you will see at clickable 2:10 where Pieter literally is doing a balancing act on a long tree trunk. Or else he would be falling DEEP into a hole as seen at 2:44.Yep, it was a real jungle and rather dark with all the underbrush.At 5:00 Pieter is completely out of sight, deep inside such a hole...At 6:42 I'm showing our white Gloxinias that we kept in our greenhouse during winter.Ending at 6:55 with our tame squirrel Piep and I lure him down the tree for finding his bonus, a hazelnut.Hope you enjoy this little insight.
Soon after, we had to leave for Indonesia, for a couple of weeks of consulting work...
Related links:Our Garden at the Time we had Access to Spent Mushroom Compost | the Vedder Estate on video by Middle Georgia Magazine after ALL the hard work got done...Non Glamorous Wheelbarrow Job for Filling and Raising Swampy Parts | previous post by meThe FIGHT of Growing Grass in Subtropical Georgia/USA | previous post by me

Holding an Indigo Bunting in my Hands

 On Saturday, April 17, 1993 we could hear a male Indigo Bunting flying against the window...

So I went to pick him up and hold him in my hands till he would be fine for flying off again.

Sorry for the poor quality photo...

If you want to see this male Indigo bunting in its full splendor, go to blogger friend Mary's post: Birds of blue on golden sunflowers ←click on link

Have you ever seen these beautiful male Indigo Buntings in your garden?

Protecting Ducklings & Dinner for Uncle Bo Whaley

Having  your own property with Backyard Wildlife is at times complicated...

It is heartbreaking to see some 40 ducklings vanish within days, from a long row of 13 to 3 and then 0...

Kwekkie the Mama duck, never gave up and started all over.

We have raccoons, hawks, owls, snapping turtles, foxes...

We both speak Dutch in video, but you can use the YouTube version and find the clickable points written below, with English text. 

We always sent my Parents this kind of written letters home, so they could see and hear us.

Kwekkie happily on our pond with 7 of her ducklings... I've seen that the big Eastern River Cooter did pull down one of the tiny ducklings while they were eating cracked corn near the pond's edge.

Eastern River Cooter ←click link

Yes, they occasionally eat other things then just aquatic plants.

Sure, they ate all our water lilies and lotus flowers too.

River Cooter Diet and Nutrition - older turtles may occasionally seek prey as well... ←click link

River Cooter Pseudemys concinna - diet ←click link

The species P. concinna is highly omnivorous and will eat anything, plant or animal, dead or alive. Diet seems to be determined by available food items. While some writers feel that this species of turtle will not eat meat, predatory behavior has been observed.

Yep, I've seen it with my own eyes!

Let's forget the nasty killing... No fun to do and while patrolling early morning at 6:00 AM that was not a happy start of the day for me.

But in the evening I cooked us a good dinner and dessert I still had plenty left from our High Tea two days earlier.

Uncle Bo Whaley and Delores viewing some of our photos in the veranda, after dinner.

Fond memories!

Miss my Uncle Bo and he's already 15 years in heaven...

The Polka Dot cotton pique skirt pants I'm wearing is one of my own sewing creations.

This was an empty whole milk plain yogurt container with cream on top...

Pieter's brother Toon, the ex Marine, shot through and next his brother Pieter (my husband) an ex Military guy shot through the very same hole!!!

Vedders are sharp shooters and don't mess with their wife either... 😏

Several years later, Pieter shot a huge snapping turtle that constantly knocked down the rocks from the island, that Pieter had built for placing the fountain inside.

On the video from Middle Georgia Magazine you could see it in working.

Related links:

Our Garden at the Time we had Access to Spent Mushroom Compost | video showing fountain on rock island on our pond

{White Waterlily Nymphaea odorata in our Pond} | showing the big mama turtle

{TURTLE} | Showing the big mama turtle

{Ducks in Our Pond} | previous post by me

{Our TURTLE KINDERGARTEN} | previous post by me

High Tea Prepared and Baked by Me | previous post by me and from which we had dessert left over...

Cleaning Our Pond and Fountain | previous post by me 

Marasmius sp.

 When working in our wood garden, husband Pieter found in the shade on a piece of old wood these lovely Marasmius sp.

Just thought to share these with you, as blogger friend Kim showed them in her lovely blog not too long ago: "Parasols" ←click on link for viewing her excellent photo.It no doubt is a Marasmius sp. and it looks very much like the Marasmius ramealis ←click on link for images.

Digging out Part of the Mountain of Dirt left under the House by Contractor

 Yep, after living and working in Indonesia, we still did continue doing consulting work but no longer than 2 or 3 weeks at a time.

So we finally since early May of 1992, could start working on home & garden...

Our contractor left us with a huge mountain of dirt UNDER THE HOUSE!

While we were working/living in Indonesia, he started constructing the house, which Pieter had designed, by making the drawings all himself.

Two levels on the driveway end and one level on the kitchen side.

The contractor did ask if we wanted a wine cellar but we said no, we don't need that.

Not realizing by not wanting that, he also bypassed any concrete flooring...!

Oh dear, when you're not physically present at times; big problems can arise that need to be dealt with later. 

Neither was there Internet for quick communication...

Always harder too, for correcting a problem like that later, as you barely can access the area for a fast and efficient excavation.

But we needed to get rid of the musty heap of 60 tons of dirt!

In August of 1991, I've dug out already a big section, as much as we needed to fill in for washed out dirt that Pieter rode then out in the wheelbarrow... See: The FIGHT of Growing Grass in Subtropical Georgia/USA ←click it.

This time, Pieter himself dug out a lot more, as we planned to build our pantry.

You can best watch this on YouTube, and use the clickable points that I've inserted and written about, below video.You can see the start of the digging and wheeling out, in the beginning, on a nippy cold February day (my Birthday) and next the construction of our pantry in progress.Having a dirty house, at least downstairs, I only kept up with the extra laundry and also captured our Garden Critters in-between filming Pieter's hard labor.Pieter indeed has been a worker bee; all his life and he's done it ALL.At the end of the video, you also see at clickable 38:07 after 20 days of labor, the completion of the construction of our pantry. At clickable 39:16 Pieter lets the viewers peak behind the added door from the pantry underneath the house, where the remainder of the mountain of dirt remained, till he dug it all out in 2004 for constructing our Rose Suite.With those 60 tons that came out, we could nicely grade our garden.At clickable 42:18 showing garden with wooden walkway, our wood trail on the left of our gazebo. You also get to see the ditches, dug for draining the swampy section! They were by then nicely clad with mosses!
Related links:The FIGHT of Growing Grass in Subtropical Georgia/USA | previous post Non Glamorous Wheelbarrow Job for Filling and Raising Swampy Parts | previous post{The Construction of Our Rose Suite - Part I} | previous post by me where Pieter dug out the 60 tons of dirt{The Construction of Our Rose Suite - Part II} | previous post by me

Cleaning Our Pond and Fountain

 Not an easy task for keeping the fountain on the rock island in our pond running smoothly, as seen in the Middle Georgia Magazine Video that starts with our fountain.

Also for cleaning up the pond...

Pieter used our inflatable rubber boat to get the job done, using a special foot pump.

Another dirty job...!

Trying to dredge all the unwanted things out of the pond's edge and putting them on the lawn for gathering up later in the wheelbarrow.

This is also the way how Pieter had to peddle up to the island that he'd build where the fountain was placed.

Hoisting treated wooden poles into the bottom for building the platform.

On top of the platform natural rocks got placed, that we found on our property. In the center the fountain got placed.

The filter of that fountain often got clogged up... so he had to go there and take it out for cleaning.

Our pond is BIG, in this photo you can still see on the left the rock island.

SEVERAL times, his boating adventure went wrong...

Pieter also used to tie a rope on the oak tree for holding onto.

And another rope onto the willow tree that we had in the back of the pond.

By working on the fountain's filter and fastening it again in the center of the rocks, Pieter pushed the boat away and ended up in the pond.

This happened after lunch, as I still was cleaning up dishes before joining Pieter in the garden for weeding...

When I came downstairs, his jeans were hanging over the retainer wall alongside our driveway... all wet.

What happened?!

Oh, I fell into the pond... was Pieter's reply.

And you did that without me being there, seeing it and laughing my head off?!

Pieter quickly did hose down himself and his jeans, on the driveway and changed into dry clothes for the next attempt.

Oh, by doing this, he also lost several of his tools, they're at the bottom of the pond...

When the snapping turtle started knocking off the big rocks by climbing onto the fountain's platform, Pieter gave up going there for straightening the fountain and for cleaning it up.

He finally removed the entire platform.

Also because mice had chewed holes into the no-longer-inflatable boat!

Oh, keeping up with a nice and romantic pond can be so much fun.

Do you have a pond?

Related link:

Our Garden at the Time we had Access to Spent Mushroom Compost | video showing our pond's fountain at beginning...

Non Glamorous Wheelbarrow Job for Filling and Raising Swampy Parts

On May 1 of 1992 we had come back home following our Exodus from Indonesia after being robbed and we thus quit instead of going back a few more times for 2 months. See links below post.

That meant that here on May 23 of 1992, we both started developing our Estate.

Me in my SWAMP UNIFORM... Haha!

Dumping load after load, that got dug up by husband Pieter. To fill in this really SWAMPY PART around the gazebo where you would sink into before.

There seem to be several underground springs that caused these excessive wet spots.

Also keep in mind that both of us were the very first human beings ever cultivating this lot. Nobody ever had lived there and we never found any native American artifacts either...

So we really did some land reclamation!!!

Pieter was digging up some dirt here, where the pipe from the pond overflow would end into the creek.

All I had to do is wheel the wheelbarrow uphill and dump it around the gazebo.

Lucky Pieter, for being able to work in the shade but I got exposed to the sun and hence my SWAMP UNIFORM

Ready to go uphill again.

Wearing the hand knitted socks done by my Mother–in-–aw! 

Putting them to very good use.

Wearing my Campbell cap...

As you can see on the table in the gazebo, we did stop for a break in–between our hard labor!

On May 27, a pallet with square exposed aggregate concrete step stones lay already waiting to be worked in...

First on May 29, Pieter had to build a little patio at the end of the stairs from our veranda for starting the walk towards our gazebo...

Yes, he also was digging in all the piping for the lawn and garden for being able to use with hose and portable sprinklers. Since we live on a slope, fixed sprinklers would not work.

A short break after I did bring him some refreshments to enjoy...

Hard work and mostly back breaking!

Working in the square exposed aggregate concrete step stones...

And making sure they were all level!

Now on May 31, it was my turn for getting on my knees and washing them in with sand...

Step by step we accomplished all the heavy jobs!

July 17, 1992 Pieter started painting the ginger bread from Vintage Woodworks, high on a ladder on the driveway side...

Fighting the elements in a subtropical climate is not easy.

Here you see that our pond is too high, as the overflow into the creek is not working with the flooded creek, visible in the back.

Later, with the 60 tons of dirt dug up from under the house for creating the Rose Suite, we did fill in that low area behind the pond, for avoiding flooding.

😉Oh, those glamour jobs before you turn your land into an estate as shown on the video below in link...

Related links:

{Pieter’s Tanner Krolle Attaché - Royal Gift purchased at Harrods by English Friend} | previous post after we quit work in Indonesia because we got robbed three times...

Floriade 1992 on a Cold and Windy Day after Earthquake in Limburg | previous post about stop in The Netherlands after our Exodus from Indonesia, before flying back to Atlanta, GA on May 1st

Our Garden at the Time we had Access to Spent Mushroom Compost | previous post with video where we mention the Vedder Estate

The FIGHT of Growing Grass in Subtropical Georgia/USA | one year before; fighting to grow grass...

There is no greatness where there is no simplicity, goodness and truth ~ Leo Tolstoy

 

'There is no greatness where there is no simplicity, 

goodness and truth.' ~Leo Tolstoy

Our Hydrangea Serrata Pretty Maiden in a vase

Related link:

{5 Varieties of Hydrangea Are Blooming Now} | previous post by me