Big Trees Down and others Trimmed Continued

 Next morning we had this as our view from the bay window breakfast area...

The 🌳BUCKEYE PREFERRED SERVICES LLC truck was right in front of us...

Our very LAST morning of seeing the huge Oak Tree standing!

This Google image is from 2014 and the oak tree is shown on the left.

The Black Gum tree got cut in 2015, seen to the right...

These 11 seconds give you a clear sight of how the pulley got fastened on a limb, for letting the branches land safely.

Limbs that were above our home, are off already...

That huge oak tree split into a V-shape.

All the branches are already off, of one half of the V-shape...

Took this video of 1 minute and 22 seconds, for showing the GREAT EXPERTISE and PRECISION for getting those tall limbs moved above our side of the vinyl picket fence, and then lowering them.You once more can see clearly the pulley being used.The left side of the tall oak's V is completely off here.All is being done while saving the Holly tree to the right!You can hear me talk when dew drops fell down onto me, from the shaking of the branches...

Pieter was studying the KUBOTA as it proved so perfect for removing all the limbs and branches and dumping them into the truck alongside the road.

Here you clearly see that our Southern Magnolia did get trimmed up quite a bit!

More and more of the limbs are being lowered down via pulley...

Once down, they were being cut by one of the three team members.

Photo taken from the road, you clearly can see the limited space we had for letting this tree fall.

This short 56 second video showed the precision skill with a long handled saw!

And yes, those two men were in constant communication via their headsets.

The one below operating the rope for the pulley and the one in the cherry picker.

Here is the other half wearing the headset and the rope is being tightened around our big Holly tree.

This 41 second video shows you exactly their great team work and skilled precision!

The backside of our home looks so much better without the huge Live Oak Tree!

A bird house is standing on the table outside on the little patio at the Rose Suite entrance.

Next day, they did use the stump grinder for taking all this out.

We're now ready for the pressure washing of the home and gazebo and then the exterior painting.

Exactly: Cowboys throw a lasso but 🌳BUCKEYE PREFFERRED SERVICES LLC throws a pulley rope with precision!One has to admire their skills.

Now they went up with two men, inside the bucket from the cherry picker.

Meanwhile the Southern Magnolia is being trimmed.

And branches being hauled off to be loaded onto their truck...

The very top of the 2nd V-section is skillfully being taken down by 2 men inside the bucket. Now the lead man by himself tackles huge sections, till he reaches the beginning of the V-section.

Here the beginning of the V-section has been reached...

A rope gets fastened for helping pull the tree down after having cut out a wedge below...

Too bad I missed this final part as I had to meet with someone and Pieter was taking his nap.

But down it came!

Here you view the top of that V-section till where they'd cut it down segment by segment.

Wonder what the Japanese Magnolia is thinking now his huge neighbor is down?

And now, our Holly tree has full freedom and it will probably take a couple of years till it has restored itself.

Still some mistletoe left in this tree as well.

A large poplar tree with a broken branch hanging down.

The one to the right is on our neighbor's property and right above our greenhouse!

BUT he did not give us permission to cut it... 

Pieter just was going to dump some fruit and veggie peels in our compost bin when he stopped near the downed Poplar tree. Another huge one, with a broken top hanging down on its bark...

And way too close to our green house!

Pieter let them stack this wood near the creek in the back, for woodpeckers to enjoy and chipmunks to roam around in.

We both were so pleased that finally those big trees had come down!

From April on, the weather was not cooperating, too wet for such heavy equipment to come into a soggy garden...

Now it is DONE!

Previous post:

Big Trees Down and others Trimmed 

The often HIGH price of being AWAY for Consulting

 Whenever we went to Indonesia, due to the long journey in itself, we were gone for 3 weeks.

Also for India it would be around 2.5 weeks and 2 weeks for Mexico.

Not so good for home and garden when being absent that long!

Consulting often resulted in an unexpected HIGH price of being AWAY

How we kept our HOUSEPLANTS alive...In our kitchen bay window area, I kept many Delft white pots with houseplants, as well as in our veranda with its long windowsill on both sides and planter tables with larger pots.We had friends offering to water them and they did, mainly on the final day before we would return home... to proof they DID water! My collection of 16 beautiful orchids shrunk rapidly.A neighbor once insisted she would water while we were gone, so Pieter brought the most delicate houseplants over to her home. She placed them in her laundry room, Pieter thought she would place them later into the light, and in their final spot...NOT SO, upon his return for picking up the houseplants, they ALL came out of her laundry room, without any window. She sure watered them but they looked all brain dead and yellow; many of them did not survive...So we looked for better solutions.

A programmable Gardena Water Computer...

On March 17 of 1994, Pieter bought our Gardena Water Computer and also a heater for the greenhouse, so we never again would loose our tomato plants to frost in March!

Old spray caps being inserted in pipe, for misting plants from above, using the Gardena Water Computer.

On March 25 of 1994, Pieter worked on a system in the greenhouse with hanging pipe from above and using the old spray caps of Dad's greenhouse in The Netherlands.For being able to do so, Pieter had extended the water pipe, outside on our garage wall, for use on the driveway with a faucet and eventually a hose. So he could use a valve for bypassing the piping system that he'd dug in over our entire garden, and not using the water being pumped up by our pump, but coming directly from our home water system.Pieter hung all plants and checked if they got adequately water, even changed some that needed more than others.It got all PERFECTED and once more we were off to Indonesia for 3 weeks.Feeling at ease with all our precious plants being watered inside the greenhouse.When we came home, we went to the greenhouse and both of us were SHOCKED!We were staring at some skeletons hanging down... ALL DEAD!Then, going inside and wanting to step into the shower, after such a long journey from Jakarta to Atlanta, we noticed we had NO WATER!Great welcome home — what a feeling for hitting the mattress like that.Only in the daylight of early morning, Pieter figured out that the teenage boy, who did cut our grass, had run over one of the pipes with faucet for attaching the water hose for sprinkling. Since Pieter had reversed the system on our main water pipe from the HOME, it kept flooding. So he brilliantly turned off the MAIN VALVE! Killing all our green children in the greenhouse by doing so...He'd cut off more often a pipe so our dream of having our houseplants safe and cared for was out of the window.We ended up instead, putting those Delft white pots in the trenches that Pieter dug alongside the Wood Trail to the left of our Gazebo area where it was rather wet in early years.They were always wet from some underground wells and water was running constantly and there was shade from the trees above.Worked perfect, except my Delft white pots were no longer WHITE... It was quite a task of cleaning them one by one and taking them back inside!So that is what you see in this short video. So many challenges and right now I have no more houseplants... We gave up after all those years.
Related links:{Fall & Winter Preparations} | previous post by me{New Heater for Greenhouse} | previous post by me where you see the nozzles on the overhead pipe

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

Our Bletilla Striata Alba Orchids After Winter Inside Greenhouse

Even plants can show their happiness!

Before they used to live for 20 years in our wood garden but the competition with huge trees was fierce.

So Pieter dug them up and planted them in pots, you can find the link below post.

They were very happy inside our Greenhouse extension that Pieter built.

Blooming rather early but I could not make photos as I couldn't get inside, past some citrus trees in pots.

On March 8, I could get to them as Pieter already had hauled the first half of pots outside.

Looking very healthy and happy!

Some already started to wilt, they were over their peak already.

But both of us were very happy with their performance!

Do you also enjoy plants that show happiness?

Related links:
{Our Bletilla Striata Alba Orchid native to Japan and China} | previous post by me
{Our Bletilla Striata Alba Orchids now Happily in Pots} | previous post by me
{SHATTERED Winter Dreams...} | previous post by me showing the greenhouse extension

{Wren's Nest}

Sometimes tiny birds can surprise you with building a nest in a very odd spot...

Look where a cute Carolina wren build her nest!

Inside her nest...

Lots of leaves are being used as entrance...

Yep, inside our greenhouse, on a shelf in an empty pot!
Wondering if it is the same bird, or related to the one we spotted in 2011...

Related link:
{Wren Nest in Our Greenhouse} | previous post by me

{Our Azaleas Before the Rain}

We have had now several days with heavy rain and that is not so good for blooming azaleas and other blossoms... But here are some photos from our azaleas before the rain:

Are those flowers not a DREAM?

To the left you can see the newly raised, wood trail, as seen from the gazebo. Pond is to the right and center.
You can see those raised edges from the wood trail here:→ {Cashmere Words of Wisdom & Update} - just scroll down to the last 2 photos.

Very lush and healthy!

Greenhouse in the back...

Glad I captured these before they got heavily rained upon!

{New Heater for Greenhouse}

Sure it is that time of the year again that our pot plants have to stay inside the greenhouse, due to frost at night. A sudden drop in temperatures makes tropical plants very sensitive, because they do not have time to harden. 

A brand new Heater for our Greenhouse...

Outside you can see a blooming rose peaking through the door in this November 5, photo.

You can also see the steel utility cart that is being used to transport the pot plants down hill, into the greenhouse and up hill back to the gazebo and patios around the home in the spring.

Husband Pieter added additional shelves on the sides, so we can store more pot plants.

He also put bark on the floor.

Repairs to the greenhouse have been made.

Shelves also on the other side.

A wooden walk way on the floor in the center.

There is the old heater, now functioning in the addition, that Pieter build last year, for sheltering some bigger pot plants.

Meanwhile all plants have been brought inside, all our jasmines, hibiscus and geraniums.

So once more, we are ready for winter!

And yes, our new heater performed well as we had our deeper frost, due to the Polar Vortex hitting the South.
As you can see, November 19, 2014 at 7:34 AM it was -8°C or 18°F.

Related links:

{SHATTERED Winter Dreams...} | previous post by me
{Fall & Winter Preparations} | previous post by me

{Obese Agave Moved Outside of Greenhouse}

Inside our rather small Greenhouse we keep our tropical pot plants during winter time.

But one of them had grown during winter that much, we could no longer get this 'Obese' Agave Outside of the Greenhouse...

But something had to give... risking even to break off a leaf!

Here it is; OUTSIDE on the Greenhouse Patio... not wounded!

Of course we can never bring it back inside again!

Have you been dealing with pot plants that did grow into OBESE ones?

It is still a beauty but we now only can cover it up for winter time and hope for the best!

{Our Fragrant Hoya Wax Plants in October}

It is brisk and bitterly cold in Dublin, Georgia so that made me long for something blooming and fragrant... Sharing here today with you our Hoya Wax Plants that hung in the gazebo and one resided in the greenhouse. Of course, both are now inside the greenhouse where the heater keeps them from freezing...

A beautiful Hoya Carnosa, full with sticky honeydew for the hummingbirds to feast on.

You can see our home in the back in its golden mist paint color...

This wasp trap still needs to be painted white...

Everything is looking lush and green here on October 13, 2013.

Looking to the other side where the bird houses hang...

We need to unwind them when they go inside the greenhouse, they weave through the Vintage Woodworks gingerbread of our gazebo.

One almost would want to be a hummingbird for feasting on that sweet and sticky honeydew!

This is the one hanging inside the greenhouse, a variegated species.

Hummingbirds can come inside here as well, the door is always open in the spring, summer and fall.

Longing to that time of the year when things are blooming again and lush and green...

It is cold here in Georgia, January 7 at 12:36 AM (past midnight) it is RealFeel®: -15°C or 5°F

Hope you stay warm those that live in the North of the USA or in Canada and are dealing with a lot worse cold!

Related link:

{Our Fragrant Hoya Carnosa - Wax Plant} | previous post by me