Remember a while back I mentioned that we were clearing cedar trees around the house? Of course you do, my loyal readers. đ In case that doesnât ring a bell, let me refresh…Since weâve moved in we have been pulling out and cutting down cedar trees that were clustered around our big, beautiful oak trees. Because of that clearing, we have been able to hang a swing, and make a play area for Miss C to have a tea party (Read about it here).
But, ever since we did all the clearing (cutting, dragging, piling) the trees have been in 9 huge piles around the house. Cute huh? To be honest, it actually didnât bother me that much. We have had many visitors come stay, and surprisingly, I didnât worry about having piles of downed trees around.
At my old house, I would have been stressing if I had people coming and there were piles of unraked leaves in the yard. But here, itâs life. If I decided not to have people out because I had unfinished or partially completed projects around, it would be YEARS. YEARS until we could share this place, our life, with our family and friends. So step over the downed trees, drive over the potholes, donât step in that cow patty and get yerself over here, sweet guests!
Ok, back to the treesâŚ.B rented a shredder from a equipment rental company.
The lesson we learned when we were pulling up and moving the trees is that you need to be completely covered. Long sleeves, pants, gloves. Brian even made himself a pair of wristbands from old socks. Those trees will slice you up. We added ear protection to this step because that sucker was LOUD.
We would take a tree from the pile, put it in the shredderâŚ.oh. It doesnât fit like that. Try this way. Ouch!  Look out for that giant spiderâŚ.it was a nasty business, yâall. I received a mean right hook and an unexpected uppercut from some wily tree trunks spitting back out. We were toast. But, we took two days and tackled all 9 of our piles (above picture is of ONE pile) and also 2 piles from another spot on the ranch. We turned all those trees into 11 (surprisingly not that big) piles of mulch.
While working those two days, the kids were such troopers. They played outside, they played inside, C even made lunch for the two of them.
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| Painting on the porch |
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| Camping out in the back of the van. |
This was a challenging project, but another thing that weâve learned to do here at the ranch. Now we can add, âgetting our booties kicked shredding cedar treesâ to our adventure life resume.
We are blessed beyond for these opportunities. It is overwhelming, gratifying, exhausting, eye-opening, challenging and exactly what we want to be doing. Well, except for getting my bell rung by tree trunks. Could have done without that.
As always, I appreciate everyone reading and following along with all our adventures.
Adventure Awaits,
Steph
Adventure year, turned adventure life 