August Weekends

There are several projects going on; here is an update on the major events of this past two weeks.

House Purchase

We are in a waiting period. The property appraisal has not come back to the bank yet so we are waiting on the bank to finish our mortgage loan application. We did hear that the current mortgage rate has fallen to 3.125 percent and may drop a bit more if the Federal Reserve makes another cut later this year.

Sorting and winnowing projects keep moving along. Pam has removed much of our wall art and packed everything in boxes with ample amounts of bubble pack, particularly for the odd-shaped stuff that does not fit into boxes very well. There is still much to go through.

The Lot

The weekend of August 3rd I made a trip to The Lot to bring home a load of firewood and another load of ‘burn pit’ wood. I was able to fire up the chipper and process two piles of brush, one on Birdhouse Ridge and the other in the corner of the Aspen Grove. Except for some firewood left over after the trailer was full, this finishes the major work in the Aspen Grove for this year. (I need to spread the chips generated this trip and bring home the last of the firewood, both relatively small projects.)

Next up, and started this trip, is to work on the upper end of the Grassy Ridge. While not as thickly covered with dead and fallen trees as the Aspen Grove, the terrain is steeper and trees and brush need to be carried further as access for wheeled vehicles gets more limited. The work will be slow going.

Each time I go to The Lot I take some chipmunk food, generally odds and ends of bread products. This time I had some cherries from our cherry tree.

The chipmunks are fun to watch, and this time of year they are stocking up for the winter on seeds from various grasses and so are very active. I did not see how they reacted to the cherries but bet they had a fun time eating the fruit I spread out for them.

This summer has been wetter than normal and the pine trees are producing a bumper crop of pine cones.

This weekend Pam and I did a short overnighter to The Lot. Pam had only been to The Lot one other time this year; plans were to do only a few light chores — to bring back a bin of wood chips to use around the house and to clean up a bit of the Grassy Ridge. These two items were accomplished, along with a bit of driveway clean-up, between light rain showers.

The weekend marked our 45th wedding anniversary on August 10th.

This week it is back to work during the day for me, and beginning to cut firewood and pack the garage in the evenings. Plenty to get done!

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Penny

I would say 45 years of marriage is a very, very long time.

Happy Trails.