Chat - Week of November 10, 2014

Woke up Friday to 3degrees F.  Fortunately, I am on winter hours which means 4 or fewer days per week, so I slept in.  Looking at the start of 2 to 4 inches of snow right now.  Junior is starting to look a little shaggy through the body but has no problem going full speed through the deep grass for over an hour.  He may be on the way to becoming a champion mouser.

Play this evening at the Mankato University.  'Our Town".  Start out with dinner at one of the restaurants in town designed for adults who like each other-no TV screen or loud music.  Just great service and great food.

Wife had her car winterized.  A year ago, we put tires on it.  Top line 90,000 mile tires.  The dealership didn't tell us that as the tires are made from hard rubber, they tend to develop bead leaks.  We had to pay to have the beads resealed.  Last tire purchase there.  One of the independents in town will match the dealers prices and stands behind the tires and workmanship.

May have to start the snow blower tomorrow.  Uff da!!!  You betcha.

Bird feeder is getting active again:

The feeder birds got scarce quickly.

What a fantastic picture, Doug!  I think you could fill a coffee table book with photos of flora, fauna, and landscape from your area with all the pretty photos you take.

That's maddening about the tires.  Cars can sure give us headaches, even when you're just trying to do the basic advised maintenance.  I had to cough up a huge chunk of change for new tires over the summer.  Not a fun way to spend money.

Thanks for the "condolences" about our trees.  I'm happy to report that DH and a friend did a good deal of clean-up this morning, so now we just have a huge pile of limbs and debris in the front yard.  We'll get someone with a wood chipper here next week since we can't haul it away ourselves.  Also, the friend who helped has a lot of experience with tree care, and he said the 2 big trees may be okay.  

We'll need an arborist to check them out and clear out any compromised limbs, and they may have lots of bare spots and weird shape, but he doesn't think they'll have to be cut down.  The coral bark maple is toast, but it was only 5 years old.  They tied up what's left of one section of crepe myrtle, and we'll see if it survives.  All in all, it looks much better than it did when everything was hanging to the ground.  When the ice melted, some limbs kind of went back to normal, even though they may be weakened.  Thus, the arborist advice needed.

Other than that, it's been very cold today, but bright blue sky with sun, so that was nice.  But when walking, we needed gloves and hats and heavy coats.  The wind is quite cold.  But nothing like Doug's weather, so I'll quit complaining!

We had a moment of silence for the coral bark maple.  Literally cut down in its prime.