As many of you know, I worked on getting our dead tree down this past weekend.  Really my plan was to just get the small stuff cut down, so that one weekend we could really get after it and take the big ones down.

Well… when you get going on those type of things, you just don’t want to stop.  So I worked for about 4 hours Saturday straight and had half the tree down.  The problem with this is the fact that I had no real intention of cutting down the big stuff so here was about a ton of wood laying on the ground and all I had was a pole saw to chop it up with.

Not cool.

Our friend Chris said he would help out, but I don’t think he knew what he was walking into, when he showed up he looked at it all and went straight for the beer.  I don’t blame him, I was half drunk by that time anyhow.  The massive amounts of wood that had to be cut up and stacked seemed to force a man to drinking.

If there was a plus side, most of the stuff was pretty dead - so it could be broke just with a swift kick.  So after a long break (it started acting like it was going to storm), we started in on it again.  Chris busted ass to get most of the small stuff broke down while I cut up the larger stuff with the pole saw.  It was sorta like beating in a nail with a wrench -but it did the job.

After about 2 more hours of work, we had most of it cleaned up and decided that a chainsaw would do the best work so most of the big stuff laid waiting.

Yesterday (Monday) I got out there about 5:30PM and started hacking away at everything again.  Took down two HUGE limbs and some smaller ones as well.  Got them chopped up, along with some more from the days before and began stacking once again.  HOLY HELL IT IS A LOT OF WOOD!  HAVE I MENTIONED THAT!

So after 4 more hours yesterday, here is what we are left with - and hopefully today I can finish it up without many problems.  Lets hope anyhow.  Actually here is a picture of the tree prior to trimming, after trimming and then the wood pile created so far.

Below you can see what it looks like as of this morning…

Then of course the wood pile, now remember there are about 6-7 huge limbs on the ground as well, not part of that.

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Ok - our favorite game around here, Name That Plant.  My Mom & Stepdad were in the Beaumont, TX area this past week and she said these plants where growing in the bar-ditches along the road.  I am not sure if she snatched one up or just wanted to know so she could buy one at a later date - but she sent an email asking if our group could help figure this one out.

So put on your gardening/plant identifying/master hats and help a sista (my Mom) out.  Check the pic below… if you have other questions, just leave them in the comments and I will make sure the Mother tries to answer them as quickly as possible, if possible.  Thanks in advance.

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We are on day two of nonstop rain.  I hope our plants do not decide to drown or better yet I hope they do not get used to this rain we have had - because if this year is like any other year, this will be the majority of our rainfall.  Only crammed into 3 days.

Saturday about 6 or 7 PM it started to rain.  It was nice and unexpected, in fact it cooled off rather quickly - which screamed hail to me… but that wasn’t the case.  Apparently a “cold front” had dipped down and we were experience real rain!  RAIN!  No crazy winds and thunderstorms that were capable of producing softball size hail… no sudden downbursts… just rain.

A pleasant surprise.

Well Shala was out of town, and so when I got up on Sunday morning it was still raining - again kind of surreal for us… but happily I accepted the fact and tried to persuade the dogs that they would not melt if a drop hit them.  Shala flew in after noon and so I picked her up and it was still raining.  Well, sprinkling.

This continued pretty much the rest of the day and when I hopped up to take the dogs out this morning… RAINING.  What is going on… really… we are worried that we have stepped into Seattle by accident or something.  Very strange deal.

Our dogs are sitting under the porch wondering what the hell has gotten into us, creating all this rain and stuff.  Shala said Mikey ventured out into the yard this morning tippy-toeing around.  He is such a girl.  Izzy on the other hand thinks God is trying to spray her with the waterhose or something and just runs like crazy if she makes it out, then slides back under the porch.  She will never make it as a water dog/retriever… sad.

I did get a crapload done on the tree - but haven’t taken pics just yet.  Will try and get some taken today and posted as soon as possible.  Hoping to finish it up this week - will be a big chore off the ever-growing list.  Yay. 

Happy Monday everyone… wish we could share some of these temps and rain with everyone else.

Perfect chance for some “rain” inspired music right?  Why not…

Rain - Beatles

Like The Rain - Clint Black

Songs About Rain - Gary Allan

No Rain - Blind Melon

November Rain - Guns N Roses

Have You Ever Seen The Rain - CCR

Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain - Willie Nelson

I’m No Stranger To The Rain - Keith Whitley

The Rain - Missy Elliot

**UPDATED**

Let It Rain - Eric Clapton (suggested by Kate - the manic gardener)

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We haven’t been posting much on BBQ lately, which is totally my fault.  In fact we have went through a bit of a Barbeque drought around our household lately.  We did throw some burgers on a few times in the past month - but taking the time for actual barbeque lately hasn’t been something we have scheduled.

However…

I have plans to BBQ a rack of ribs or two and maybe try some other things on this pre-4th of July weekend.  I have to keep my skills up you know?  Don’t want to lose anything with the 4th of July BBQ just around the corner.

Actually I will use anything as an excuse for BBQ - this just happens to be a nationally accepted one.  I use those as excuses as well.  haha

Anyhow, I am a subscriber to Men’s Health - even though I just look at the pictures and nod most of the time.  But this latest issue had some BBQ stuff in it and so I was checking it out and they had a link (even though you can’t click it in a magazine… funny huh) to Men’s Health/bbq.  It is basiclly a one stop BBQ page with lots of recipes, how-to(s) and other crap related to BBQ.

We try hard to give you guys as much gardening stuff & BBQ material as possible, but sometimes we fall short - so we don’t mind passing you on to other sites that have us trumped.  We are not claiming defeat… however - if you want to skim through and check it out, we won’t cry about it.  Not a lot.  Ok… a lot.  But we will do it alone, in a closet - you will never know about it.  Until we blog it and put it on Twitter and Flickr and anything else that ends with “r” and is cool.

So if you have sometime and want to check out some cool recipes, go for it.  Just hit this link…

Men’s Health BBQ Tips - Barbeque Tips & Techniques Provided by Men’s Health Magazine.

Maybe they will contact us and want to give me a job being the resident BBQ badass… BBQ rib badass, master blogger star barbeque man.  Or something like that.  I’m sure they could make a position for me. 

I did see something I think we might try on July 4th weekend - Grilled Shrimp with Cilantro Recipe.

If you aren’t grilling/barbequeing this weekend… why not?  Do work son.  Do work.

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When we first redesigned our back flowerbed we put in vinca & daisies and it looked so cool.  Well then we tried our hardest to murder it all out by not watering it. 

Wait…

First we watered it too much back before it got hot… then we backed off and quit watering practically and everything looked like it had been deep fried.  So recently we started watering again.  Big surprise, things started to grow and love life again.  Funny how that works eh?

So our daisies when from dried up brown clumps of nothing to this in about a week or week and a half.

There are a few that I don’t think could ever come back… but we shall see.  We will keep everyone updated on these poor mistreated things.

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