The Mid-Summer Yard and Garden Tour - Something's Growing!

I've spent a LOT of time outside this past week, cleaning up the mess from the recent storms.

Besides the major tree damage to our buckeye and the neighbors' maple last week, some good-sized branches broke off and fell out of the top of the 95-foot tulip poplar in the back yard.  The tree guys didn't mess with them because the branches didn't fall on the neighbors' house, which was why we called them and their giant claw machine. 

I went out and dragged the branches to a relatively convenient spot to cut them up.  We have two gas-powered chainsaws, but they're difficult to start and to keep running (even That Man has to work hard at it).  They make oily messes and are LOUD to boot, so I made the executive decision to buy an electric chainsaw so I could cut up those limbs without a lot of wasted effort.  It's been too hot to suffer that way.  The new saw is easy to start, relatively quiet, and went through the fresh wood like butter.  Because the chainsaw doesn't belch smoke and fumes, I could smell the wood as I cut.  Tulip poplar is super fragrant!

All tulip tree stuff.  Under the rack is a
pile of tulip poplar seeds. Dry, they
make great tinder for starting a fire!

About a week before the storm, I'd taken delivery of a nice new EMPTY firewood rack.  Well, it's not empty anymore. That Man says that's what caused the storm to knock down the trees - nature abhors a vacuum, and the wood rack needed something to fill it up.  My new chainsaw and I obliged.

I heard the storm that caused all the damage may have actually been a tornado that didn't touch down.  I saw the trees on the street behind us blowing in all directions rather than just one, and our buckeye tree appeared to have been twisted when it broke.  The tree guys took it down to the ground and hauled it away with the neighbors' big maple tree, so we didn't get any of its wood.  Poor tree.  We'll miss it.

Here's what a Nut Weasel looks like.

Buckeye trees are notorious for their fertility.  Every year they produce thousands of buckeyes that litter the ground and make it difficult to walk - kind of like walking on a carpet of golf balls.  We used to pay The Girl and The Boy five cents a buckeye to pick them up.  They'd usually fill up a couple of five-gallon buckets each at about $40.00 a bucket.  That's a lot of buckeyes! 

Since there aren't any kids to bribe to gather buckeyes anymore, I looked for a tool to make gathering them easier.  I'd decided to buy a Nut Weasel for this fall, but now it's moot - I don't need it.

Possibly the last living
connection to our buckeye tree.

It's not just the buckeyes themselves that are problematic, but the little seedlings they make!!!  In the spring, there'd be a sea of baby buckeye trees.  The ones in the yard were easy to take care of - you just kept mowing the grass regularly and eventually they give up, but there would always be a bunch hiding in the beds of peonies and daylilies along the side of the house.  I must have done a thorough job of eradicating the stray seedlings that usually crop up in the flower beds because there just aren't any to be found there.  HOWEVER...!  I discovered ONE in the grass under the tulip tree.  It's apparently the only remaining offspring of our late lamented tree.

So...  I've decided to dig it up and move it to the garden, and maybe one day we'll have a sapling to plant in the yard, and it will grow up and make thousands of buckeyes of its own.  THEN I'll buy myself a Nut Weasel!

Laundry Festivities

Laundry is so much FUN.

About 3 1/2 months ago, the washing machine got loud.  Not just louder than normal, but LOUD.  It sounded like a freight train was running through the house.

A year and a half ago, that same machine had gotten loud (read about it here).  Again, LOUD.  But that was a gradual buildup.  This time it was sudden.  Last time, we took out the drum and some motor components and replaced the shaft and seals.  It took ALL DAY, but we got it done.

So it was the same deal this time around, except, to be honest, I don't want to deal with pulling the drum out and all that hoo-haw on an annual basis, so I ordered a new washing machine.  Usually, I buy the matching dryer at the same time, but this time, after over a year of That Knee keeping its owner on long-term disability, we decided to replace only the washer.

So the washer was delivered and installed, and everything was just GRAND.

Until the DRYER started making noise, just a couple of months later.

REALLY?

So, I googled the problem and found the probable cause - a bad idler arm, and possibly the drum rollers.  I didn't want to deal with removing THAT drum, either, so I only ordered an idler arm assembly online.  It arrived just a few days later.  I took the back off the dryer and replaced the assembly - a pretty quick fix.

Except it wasn't fixed.

RATS.

The new laundry twins!

I was fed up with it and decided to just buy a new dryer like I should have done when I bought the washer.  By this time, the coronavirus pandemic was heating up, so I couldn't go into the store.  I got online and ordered a dryer.  It was a Saturday, and according to the website, the dryer would be delivered the following Tuesday.  I received an email confirming the day and time for delivery.

Well.

That Monday, I was notified that because of the coronavirus pandemic, the dryer couldn't be delivered and installed at that time, but PERHAPS they'd be able to JUST deliver it - drop it off at the door, and we'd have to get it inside and hooked up.  They'd let up know.

Long story short, a month later I got a phone call - when would I like to have the dryer dropped off?  I said how soon can you get it here?  So it arrived two days later.  I asked the delivery guy to remove the box for me.  It was the WRONG DRYER.  Not their fault.  I'd somehow clicked on the wrong machine.  Good grief.

I got on the phone and requested to return the wrong one, then got online (AGAIN) to order the right one.  You bet I checked and rechecked that it was the correct machine that time!!!

The right one was delivered, the wrong one was taken away, and my new dryer has been doing a great job for a couple of weeks, so I'm happy!

EPILOGUE

The day the right dryer arrived, I read the whole manual (yes, I'm special that way) and saw an optional accessory - a dryer rack.  It's for drying your athletic shoes or wool sweaters - you know, those things they tell you either not to tumble dry or to dry flat - what a pain.  I'd seen a dryer rack mentioned in the manuals of my two previous dryers and have coveted one for twenty years now - maybe longer.  I'm afraid the stay-at-home orders have taken a toll, because I said to myself, "Why not?"

The dryer rack inside the dryer.

And I did.

I got online (AGAIN - seems I'm spending an inordinate amount of time online these days) and researched and price checked and ordered a dryer rack!  If you've never seen one, it's a platform that you slide inside the dryer, place your items on, choose your settings, and turn on the dryer.  The drum is supposed to rotate while the rack remains stationary.  The rack is pretty big, and when I unboxed it, I thought, "How the heck will THAT ever fit?"  But it did!

I placed the rack inside the drum, turned the dryer on as a test, and, shockingly enough, the drum DOES rotate while the rack does NOT!  Now I'm looking forward to washing something that needs to be laid flat to dry.  What will it be?  Oh, I can hardly wait!

It sure doesn't take much to get me excited, does it?  What a nerd!