It is 3:30 here on Earth. Tommy is doing something I have asked him to do for about three months. Two or three years ago, a friend came from Cullman and cut down several trees, some were sprouts, originally from the main tree. At any rate, they had grown so high they were going to tear up the roof. The tree in the back yard was growing against the foundation and was six or eight feet above the roof and was tearing up that roof! He objected mightily.
Now, there are sprouts six feet long that will eventually be a tree once again. So, I bought loppers around Christmas so he could cut the mess before leaves appeared. I have mentioned this almost daily for the last two weeks. Today, I said it was time, so begrudgingly he has gone out to lop.
I love lopping, really love lopping. A guy I dated said every time he came to my house, I had lopped limbs for him to carry to the road. He then complained when his daughter came to visit him at his mother's house, his daughter and his mother had piles of lopped limbs for him to carry. I suppose women like lopping. He thought they should carry it to the road.
For years I did the lopping and carrying. Finally carrying or dragging larger limbs got to be too much for me. It appears now that the hand strength of lopping is gone, too. So, he is lopping. I will get the stuff off the ground. As of now, these are short sprouts and not many.
We had a talk about how to treat these. I hate lopper handles resting on the ground. I prefer the lopper lopping parts sit on the ground. The handles on the ground gets the handles dirty. One pair had nasty, disintegrating handles because people I paid to use the loppers disagreed with me and stuck the handles on the ground. That meant in the dirt, sometimes damp dirt.
I also asked Tommy to just wipe off the blades as I will clean them later with WD-40 or oil. Since I cannot figure out where my can is, I will use oil on them. People who worked for me also disagreed with the WD40, so I did it myself. I had no rusty tools. I know I can put tools in a bucket of sand with old motor oil, but that did not suit my lifestyle. Plus, I kept tools in a climate-controlled place.
Tommy laughed at my preference of blades resting on the ground. He worked for a real estate lady who told him to never get them in dirt unless he was using them to lop. Due to my back, walking, and arthritis in my hands, I just don't lop anymore.
My two books came--Killer Angels and Rubaiyat. Each page of the Rubaiyat has only four lines, the quatrain. Even the back of the page with the quatrain is blank. This makes marginalia much easier. I wish lots of my novels had such an expanse of extra space. I have serious doubts about needing to write so many notes.
I may have been mistaken about the reason the neighbors cleaned the carport junk and had it carried away. They are throwing a big party out there. They throw the quietest parties ever--lots of people and no noise. We have to see it to know it is happening. There are even children in the pool playing quietly.
Now, I have to wash all the hummingbird feeders. I am woefully behind on this. Some are sticky from last year because of life. I suppose Tommy pushed them far back on the counter where his coffeemaker sits. I stay away from there...lol.
Do you clean your yard tools after every use and oil the blades? Do you love to lop?
I can't stand steady enough to lop but yes, I like it. It's very satisfying.
ReplyDeleteOn Saturday I asked my daughter to lop a couple of branches off a tree we have. She grumbled and I said it's just a little bit.
When it was over she was surprised how little effort it had been!
Kylie,
DeleteStanding steady is hard for me, also. You daughter will learn to love loppers.
Goodness gracious! I have never seen the word "lop" used this much in a single piece of writing. A lopper user manual would use the word this much.
ReplyDeleteI am not a lopper lover. I am not even a lopper liker. I do it because I have to, not because I love or like to. I am loathe to launder my loppers. Call me lazy lopper laver, if you like
I will admit I am wacky over my weed whacker. Not to the extent that you are loopy over loppers, though.
Lopping Linda and Tree Trimming Tommy. LOL!!
I rinse out my hummingbird feeder with boiling water, for safety. When I make nectar, I boil the water, dissolve the sugar in it, then refrigerate. When the nectar is cool, I fill the clean feeders.
Thank you very much for the reminder! It's time I clean mine, too.
Today was my Mother's Day (we celebrated late because DS was out of town). I had breakfast out, a nap, presents, cards, and a delicious Thai dinner. We will all watch the penultimate episode of "Succession" which I am really looking forward to!
Hope everyone has a fun and productive week!
Sue,
ReplyDeleteYou are so funny. I loved your lopping, trimming comments!
Not all these feeders are from last year and dirty. Some are ones in use now and ones put away clean last fall. I have clean syrup ready, just need to get the new syrup done for all these.
It sound like you late Mother's Day is a fine assortment of goodies, especially the nap.
There will be little and no rain this week, so it will be fun and productive for me.
I don't understand what you mean by sticking the tool handles in the dirt. I do occasionally put mine on the ground while using them but we always put our yard tools up once we are done. We don't oil the blades each time, but we do clean them
ReplyDeleteAnne,
ReplyDeleteI mean the handles touching dirt. I know they are brought back to me, never left out if I have anything to do about it. But, resting the loppers on the blade end is better for keeping the whole utensil clean. When someone brings me the loppers with dirty handles and I don't have on gloves, I get dirty and allergies kick it. Since I don't handle the cutting end and it is cleaned immediately, that works for keeping the tool in tip top shape. Besides, sitting a tool down with the dangerous end straight up does not seem prudent to me.