Tuesday February 20,2018 Guerneville CA.
Too cold on the river today
The wind looked like it was up at Jenner today, so I drove on down to Monte Rio to yak as the wind is usually less there.
But as I pulled into the boat ramp and got out of my car the wind was gusting and the cold chilled me through right away.
A few minutes later the wind died, but I was already chilled and could see it was going to be a cold day on the river.
Some shopping instead
I decided to go shopping in Guerneville instead as I was real low on food as I’ve not felt like shopping much lately.
I stopped in Guerneville and shopped and went on home and put stuff away.
Spring yard work
After warming up in the house I went outside to do some yard work that needs to get done for spring.
Yesterday I cut my olive tree down and got it almost cut up.
This is what it looked like. I still need to cut the stump lower and I was thinking of taking that big leaf maple out on the far left. I’m slowly removing any trees that block the sun and don’t give me anything to eat.
Non producers
The olives where real small and I’d need a lot more big leaf maples to get any maple syrup, so that’s why they got cut down.
Of course I had to fuel the chainsaw before getting started and the chain needed sharpening, so I did that too.
Habitat piles
I got the maple tree all cut up, cut the olive tree stump down lower and made a nice habitat pile for the critters. The piles also break down and make some nice mulch. Ever since they required permits to burn, I started making habitat piles as I don’t like dealing with city type authorities.
Here’s my work area, brush picked up and wood stacked to dry.
The olive tree had a rather large stump. I like to cut them low to the ground, usually low enough to mow over them, but this one I couldn’t get that low without cutting in the dirt.
Here’s my habitat pile which will slowly rot away and sink lower so I can pile more brush on it next year.
After a good break
I’d noticed my van was leaking some cooling fluid out of the new cooling unit hoses, so I got under it and tightened up the hose clamps. I’ll be checking engine fluids for my next trip and will top up the radiator coolant at that time.
Next I noticed my car was making some bad muffler type noises since I returned from my Oregon trip, so I got under there and checked out the muffler. The pipe that goes into the muffler is almost all the way corroded off. I put some silicone on it for now, but will have to get a new muffler soon.
As long as I was working on the car I checked the oil and added some.
Enjoying the yard
The daffodils are still looking nice, although some are starting to show signs of age. These are some of the better ones. I like this bright yellow, so I will transplant some of the bulbs around the yard for next year. I just have to mark where these are so I can find them and dig them up later.
Can’t eat the berries
My American bamboo, or Nadine has a lot of nice bright berries it’s showing off right now. This is actually a nice hedge type plant as it looks nice and doesn’t require water or hardly any care. It’s only draw back is I don’t think I can eat the berries.
It cooled down early today, so I went in the house early and got the heater going.
And that was my day.