Stephanie Uses Power Tools

As you may or may not know, my work hours were recently slashed in half. This means I'm working 10 hours a week, leaving me with nothing to do for the other 158. If you subtract time I spend sleeping, eating, riding the horse, driving to various locales, and generally lounging, I currently have approximately 30 hours a week of free time. Some of you might be envious. I can hear you thinking, But Stephanie, you can exercise! You can start knitting! You can train the dogs properly! You can take naps and watch Food Network! You can spend your time baking fresh cookies for your loving boyfriend who's currently paying half of your bills! Gentle readers, I know. And a chunk of this free time is definitely spent napping and watching Food Network and doing the cleaning and laundering of the nice co-author of this blog. But friends, let me tell you, that shizz gets old. One can only spend so much time every day browsing the online sales at Dover Saddlery, Bit of Britain, and LL Bean. Or watching old episodes of Eureka and Doctor Who. 

So, feeling both motivated and guilty, I decided to tackle some house and yard-related projects that have been unpleasantly lingering for months. (Sort of like that weird smell from the garbage disposal.) Yesterday, I mowed the front lawn. It'd sprung up, all bright green and lush from the rain, and was way too tall to look neat. When I was finished, I decided I might as well get out the weed eater and do the trim, too. When that was finished, I figured since I was already sweaty and gross and covered in plant matter I should probably go ahead and trim the hedges. The result? A very neat lawn! But not neat enough. Our crepe myrtles all seemed to die in the unusually harsh winter. All of a sudden, they blossomed a few weeks ago. It seems they've sprouted a ton of new growth around the dead stuff, which makes them look really, really ugly. They used to be beautiful- tall and full and colorful. Now they're half dry, dead, brown branches and half pretty green foliage dotted with pink blooms. 

I tackled the removal of the dead branches on one of the plants today, using Johnny's Milwaukee reciprocating saw. The dead branches are thick and hard- too much for the little hedge clipper. Using advice from Southern Living's Grumpy Gardener, I trimmed back all of the dead growth I could find. It wasn't too difficult, but I was then faced with a new problem: the new growth had been supporting itself on the dead branches. Without them, it was too weak to hold itself up. It drooped to the ground, making the majestic myrtle look more like a weeping willow. I made the executive decision to commit crepe murder (I think of it more like assisted suicide) and trim the fresh branches. There are still a few tall branches supporting themselves, and a slew of small growth toward the bottom. I'll be reading a bit more on trimming these suckers before I get the pruners out. 

Frustrated with the garage's work bench, I spent the rest of my morning reorganizing it. I discovered the jackpot of power tools stashed in there. Johnny's got a circular saw, two drills, a jigsaw, the aforementioned reciprocating saw, and a belt sander. Lucky for me, I was a proud member of FFA in high school and learned a lot about how to properly wield power tools through agriculture classes. (Not saying I was the best welder or built the greatest rafters, but I got by.) 

So, what does Stephanie + power tools equal? Who knows? All I have on my agenda thus far is jump standards. Once I've acquired some 4x4 pieces of wood, training for my upcoming horse trial is going to kick into high gear! 

Other projects on my radar: repainting my bedroom furniture, building Johnny some sawhorses, installing a toilet, and repainting the hallway bathroom. No promises on taking pics or blogging, but I'll do my best.

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Leaves, Leaves Everywhere

We're under attack here at Casa de C-More. Don't worry- the neighbors haven't found out that I voted for Obama or that Johnny wears Birkenstock sandals. We're being attacked by something even more insidious- leaves!

Oklahoma has decided it's autumn, and this means every tree in our yard (of which there are many) has decided to abruptly shed its leaves. Well, except for the Coniferous Three in the front yard- they've gone the pine-cone dropping route. (Expect a post on pine-cone arts and crafts later!) Check out various parts of our yard:

Two of the Coniferous Three 

Our driveway. Johnny swept this totally clean two days ago.

Leaves on the deck. Woody Cat is unrelated to leaves.

Leaves in the pool.

Leaves on the patio and in my chair!

Leaves and those wretched pine-cones!

Our compost pile with seven trashbags' worth of leaves from the driveway.

The backyard is covered in leaves! 

Leaf War 2010 isn't over yet- some of our trees are still clinging to their leaves. This guy still has plenty to shed. (On the plus side, they're a very pretty red color!)

Your pretty red leaves mean NOTHING.

Unfortunately, this tree is right next to our driveway, so it looks like we won't be hanging up the rake yet. We'll be mowing the yard soon and are hoping that will help break up the leaves into tiny bits- they'll degrade more quickly and help fertilize the yard for next year. (See, this degree in natural resources management is totally paying off.) The big piles (like what we get in the driveway) are going to head back to the compost pile, which is located in an old sandbox in the back yard. (I'm working on a composting guide- I told you that degree was useful!) I'd feel confident we could get the leaves under control, except for this: 

Our street & across-the-street neighbors

The across-the-street neighbors have a perfectly clean driveway and yard. It's totally leaf-free. They don't have much in the way of trees, but one would think the winds of Oklahoma would blow something their way. Look at the leaves in the street! What's going on here? 

Leaf-blower. That's what's going on. We caught them yesterday with their nasty little noisemaker, blowing leaves willy-nilly into the street. And guess whose driveway they're blown directly into? (Hint: It's us.) 

Any suggestions on how to do battle with these thoughtless cads?

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