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?
