More on the fence project

It's been a pretty discouraging few weeks.  Dan's had a couple of different bobcat guys lined up, but they didn't show up.  Then it rained.  And rained.  So our fence project pretty much ground to a halt.   Dan finally decided that if we were going to make any progress at all he was going to have to dig the old privet hedge out by hand.   Well that proved to be a massive and torturous job that probably would've taken the rest of the summer had our neighbours not stepped in to help.  Doug across the alley and Bill, next door to him, stopped to chat while Dan was out working.  Doug decided that the hedge was still in pretty good shape and he could use it to fill in some holes in his hedge.  Bill's wife thought she would like some too.  The next thing I know, they had Doug's truck backed up and chains wrapped around the bushes and they were hauling them out just lickety-split. 

This is Bill (Often rudely referred to as Hillbilly) pitching in to help.

Okay, so not exactly lickety split.  The chain idea was good, but it wasn't hugely successful.  It caused a fair amount of damage to the plants, so Bill came up with a better plan.  A canvas doohickey that cinched tightly around the base of the plants so they pulled out cleaner and easier.  Of course it has a real name, but whatever...

Bill wrapping the doohickey around the bush.

Okay, Doug, pull forward,

And just like that, it's out, root and all!

Dan unties it

and tosses it on to the growing heap.

It took Dan & Doug about an hour to do what would've taken Dan about a week to do alone. 

Meanwhile, as an added BONUS

Bill's buddy dropped by and decided that our old metal fence would make a fine dog run, so Bill loaded it on to his picker truck and away it went!

So, the old fence is gone, and the bushes are gone too! 

So much progress in one afternoon!  What great neighbours eh?!

Golf-Beetle-Back

I had wanted a bug for as long as I can remember and when I finally got it 3½ years ago, I was thrilled to bits.  It was funky, it was fun, it appealed to my sense of (aging) hippie-flowerchild-ness, and it was a convertible to boot!  I gave up a perfectly good Golf (my first, and probably only, brand-new car) to get the car of my dreams.

  

 Turns out that one woman's dream can be her dog's nightmare.  Taz doesn't like the Beetle.  It's a royal pain to get her into and out of it.  She has to be coaxed ever so patiently to crawl into the back where she sits on the floor so that the folded forward seat can't be put back into place.  From the floor she has to be patiently coaxed once again to get up on to the seat, and of course, we have to do the whole thing in reverse when we get to our destination.  I think we can all agree that patience is a virtue that I'm kinda low on, so outings to the dog park are way more stressful than they were when I drove a hatchback.  It goes without saying that they're less frequent too.  Our local park isn't as much fun, but it's a lot easier for both of us.

So, it's not that I don't love my Beetle anymore, I do, but I need a more practical vehicle for the neurotic dog.  That's why the Beetle is for sale and I'm once again the proud owner of a VW Golf.

Not just any old Golf though.   I wasn't the least bit interested in the black, blue or silver ones - I only wanted a yellow one!  And not that wimpy pastel-y yellow that they came out with for a few model years either.  It had to be BRIGHT yellow!  

So here she is in all her sunshiny glory:

It's not perfect, it doesn't have a sunroof  :(  but I don't really care.  I could've had a nice silver one (yawn) with a sunroof...nope, no thank you. 

¡Me gusta amarillo!

I don't actually have it yet.  I can't pick it up until Tuesday evening, but I'm excited, so I had to share.

Lilacs

What is it about fading/faded blossoms that fascinates me so?    I'm sure a therapist would have a field day analyzing my damaged psyche, but I think they have a melancholic beauty.
 Maybe they appeal to my inner Sylvia Plath.

Lilacs, a photo by lovestotravel:) on Flickr.

Just so you don't think I'm a truly distubed individual and possibly a danger to society, I should point out that I also love them when they're fresh and alive.

p.s.  Don't worry re: Sylvia Plath reference.  Our oven is electric.  :-)

My new Spanish tutor

Me gusto me instructor nuevo.  Nosotros hemos tenido uno leccion solamente y comprendo mucho mas que antes.  Yo he faltado a aprender el tiempo pasado muchas veces, pero Kenn ha abierto la puerta a la pasado.  Por ahora, olvidare el preterito.  En lugar del preterito, voy a concentrar a aprender el presente perfecto.  Lo es mas facil y mas flexible tambien.

See?  I couldn't have done that last week, because it contains past tense references.  So, how many times have I taken Spanish lessons only to give up when I hit the wall of past tense?  Sure, I can do the exercises and I can even pass the tests, but I just can't seem to get a solid grip on it.  There are just too many variables and they slither and slide around in my brain until they become just a pile of mush.   Take a boo at this chart and see just how many tenses the Spanish language has.  C'mon, my brain is 56 years old and already full of stuff like the lyrics to Gilligan's Island theme song, there's just not that much free RAM left.

And why in all this time has nobody ever told me that I don't have to master the preterite in order to communicate things that happened in the past?  Sheesh!  I've been bashing my head against the past tense for so long that I just figured I would never be able to have a normal conversation.  Ever.  Period.  Because I'm stupid and I just don't get it!

So Kenn (yes, nn) comes over on Monday morning and within ½ an hour he showed me an easier way to do it.  Sure, I've studied the "present perfect" tense in classes before, but nobody has ever explained just how versatile it is.  I thought it had limited applications and wouldn't quite cut it as a sure fire way to convey past actions, so I discounted it.  Wrong!  It's much more versatile than the others and WAY easier too. 

There will come a point when I'll be needing the nuances of the preterito, the pluscuamperfecto, the preterito anterior and the seventeen other ways to speak in the past tense, but for now, I'm happy to be able to communicate simple concepts like " I have already eaten, thank you."

The fence project

The metal fence at the bottom of our garden has been there forever.  It's lasted 25 years that we know of  (probably longer) and I'm sure it would've lasted another 100, easily.  I can't remember how long ago we planted the cotoneaster hedge in front of it, but I'm thinking it's gotta be 20 years, at least.  Within a couple of years the hedge grew to cover up the ugly fence, then it continued growing until it was about about 8'  high giving us optimum privacy in our yard.  I loved it!  It was lush and thick and completely blocked out the view of the neighbours across the alley.  Well, more specifically, their junky cars and rusted garage door.  It was like having a thick green wall. 

Unfortunately, as you can see in this photo, it started to get spindly and kind of sickly and there were more bare patches than greenery. 

So it's time for a change. 

For reasons unknown, the metal fence was about 2½ feet inside our property line, so by removing the fence (and the cotoneaster) and building the new fence ON the property line, we're gonna gain a bit more space in the garden.

So the old fence is now down.  That was no easy matter - it was definitely meant to last a lifetime!  Now we just have to figure out how to get rid of it.  It weighs a bloody ton!

Dan has had trouble finding somebody with a bobcat to come in and remove the bushes and dig some post-holes.  I guess there's a lot of work out there at this time of year, and nobody is interested in a piddly little job like ours.

He thinks he has somebody from work lined up to come out on Friday.   Hopefully it doesn't rain and they actually show up...

Meanwhile, I'm feeling more than a little exposed here.  Not only do we have a pile of dirt and another pile of clippings in the yard, we also have a lovely view of Bill's rusty garage door and Doug's old beater.   AND we can also see our compost bins.  Nice!

 

The Tulip Dance

So much enjoyment from 2 unexpected tulips. 

Remember the 2 tulips that tease me by coming up every year, and then refuse to flower?  Well, I  cut them and brought them into the house so I could have the pleasure of their company at breakfast, and I thoroughly enjoyed every stage of their last dance.

  

Unfortunately, Dan didn't know that I was waiting for the petals to completely drop off to take the final photo to finish the collage, and he cleaned them off the table before I got up one morning.  My fault;  I didn't say that I was photographing them.  He just saw dead flowers that needed to be removed.