It all started with a pick and a Toyota

Saga of a rock removal project  8-8-2014

It all started with a pick and a Toyota 

Brother-in-laws Bruce and Jeff were looking for something to do while the wives visited with their new sister in the house.  There was a big rock sticking up that I had to mow around.  I told them it was something I would like to try to move someday, to make it easier to mow the front lawn.  So we started by poking around the rock in the front yard with a pick and a long steel bar.  After a little poking, and some digging with a shovel, we noticed that we could move it slightly.  So we dug down farther and were able to get a chain around one end.  Bruce hooked up his new Toyota four wheel drive truck to the chain, and gave it a little pull.  First thing that happened was that one of the links in the chain broke.  It was of course the weak link.  We fixed that and tried again.  This time with a good sized jerk, the rock came flying out.  

  

Then we had this huge hole in the lawn, one that could swallow up a couple of deer,  and a huge rock sitting in the front yard.  We made a quick decision to drag the rock over near the rock on the right side of the driveway and make a bigger driveway entry rock.

That worked well, except for the trough we made in the gravel driveway.  The two rocks were together easily and looked like they belonged there.  But then we still had a big hole.

  

A couple days later, we were in Sturgis and stopped by Rockingtree Floral and Garden Center on Lazelle Street just at closing time.  A very helpful lady greeted us and showed us several trees, then helped us pick one for our front yard.  She said it would fit into our Subaru wagon easily.  It did fit although the top was touching the front windshield and the bottom was touching the tailgate.  We got it home and put it in the corner of the breeze way for safekeeping until it was a nice day for planting.

Since deer spend a lot of time in our front yard in the dark time of the day, and the young tree would probably be nice and chewy in the winter time, we decided we needed a fence around the new tree.  So we got busy and designed a fence that would keep the deer out, and that would be pleasing to look at, and easy to access for mowing and for watering.

I used some 4 x 4 posts from a previous auction in Black Hawk, purchased some fencing, and located some gate hardware.  We treated the posts with Thompson water seal, then dug the holes for the posts.  After packing dirt around each post, I put a level on one post and stretched a line to the other posts and marked them for cutting.  I cut them with a circular saw, so they were all the same height.  Then to put a fine woodworking touch to the project, I chambered the top of each post with a portable router.  Then I built a gate and installed it.  Finally, I added the fence wire to the project.  Then the area was ready for the new tree.

The tree's roots were in a 7 gallon bucket.  Seven gallons didn't even come close to filling that big hole.  The lady told us to plant it so that the top of the bucket was flush with the ground.  So we had to add three wheel barrows full of dirt from the back yard and mixed it with three large bags of potting soil. 

We planted the tree in the middle, and then filled around it.  Then we covered it with redwood bark to protect it in the wintertime.  So now,  two months after the pick and the Toyota pickup... we have a new flowering crab-apple tree to enjoy ( and to mow around.)

the beginning

Fall 2014 Projects

Re-purposed Radio/Phonograph Cabinet

Re-purposed Traveler Information Stand

Re-purposed Tripod

BBQ Deck

It all started with a pick and a Toyota - new tree in front yard

Doll Crib

Door Jamb Repair

Door Locks Replacement

Porch Painting

Restore Old School Desk for Porch Sitting

Paint Deck/Porch/Rails

Rolling Cart

to be continued...

Bountiful Baskets - Volunteering to Help - 4-5-2014

We arrived in Piedmont, SD about noon on April 5th, 2014, for our 12:15 pm pickup of the Bountiful Baskets.  This was our second time for picking up Bountiful Baskets, and the first time from the Piedmont Location.

We soon learned that the truck was an hour late in coming, so we asked if we could help when it arrives.  Yes, for sure, we can use all who want to help.  The earlier volunteers had prepared the sorting area by staging the 90 sets of baskets in rows in the middle of the room.  Labels had been placed along the side of the building for sorting the boxes as they were brought from the truck.

The truck arrived a few minutes later.  The first job was to unload the truck.  The driver moves the pallets of food boxes to the end of the truck and volunteers carry them into the sorting area.

The food is staged in the sorting area and prepared for distribution to the 90 awaiting sets of baskets.  The exact number of each type of fruit or vegetable is not known until it has all been unloaded and stacked in the sorting area.  The coordinator then determines how many of each type of fruit or vegetable is to be put in each basket.

The standard amount is one unit consisting of a basket of fruit and a basket of vegetables.  Other items can be purchased as extra items at the time of placing the requests (the Monday prior to the Saturday delivery).

The boxes of fruits and vegetables were then distributed to the sets of baskets.  This required some hand sorting such as bagging up the peppers, and breaking the banana bunches into equal quantities.  With each basket full and all the produce divided equally, the participants of this coop were allowed to come and take their items.  This required them to show their receipt to the volunteers.

After all baskets were picked up, the volunteers cleaned up the area, packed up the empty baskets, folded the tables, removed produce labels from the wall, and crushed and flattened all the remaining boxes and took them to the recycle bin around the back of the building.  The Bountiful Baskets sign was moved from the front of the building and the day was completed.  It was about 2 pm.  A bit of work for the volunteers, and a little bit more work for the coordinators, but a lot of fun and the fresh produce received made it well worth it.

For more information about the program and how to participate, go to their website at www.bountifulbaskets.org.   

the end