At the top of my list was a HUGE brush pile to get burned.
I have been clearing cedar and underbrush from my oak trees for 2 years - this field was full! I wish I had a picture of it from just a few weeks ago. The pile stretched 50 yards down the field, 15-20 feet across, and 4-5 feet high. And now it's all gone, yay!! There is still the trash from the previous owners, but that will be gone this week.
One job down, but more to clear ... I have so many beautiful live oak trees hidden in almost impenetrable underbrush. These pictures are just to the right of the field above ... the leaning oaks remind me of the wind battered trees at the coast, I love how sculptural they are.
My son named the tree below "the sitting tree". It appears to be healthy and sturdy, it just grew sideways.
I have also done a little furniture work. When my mom downsized several years ago, I took her vintage redwood patio chairs. Time and the elements have taken their toll, but are in very good condition for their age.
I started priming the first chair and realized it would be a crummy paint job if I didn't take them apart and do it properly. Here's the first one primed (before taking apart) ...
The chairs are held together with 8 bolts, so I started taking them apart. Unfortunately some of the bolts were extremely hard to remove (important tip - do not paint over bolts you might want to remove ... ). I spent almost two hours on the first chair, and only got 7 of the bolts removed. I didn't do much better on the second chair.
Then I remembered I had this little baby:
About 5 minutes later (it would have been faster, but I had to find the metal cutting blade) ... I had a bunch of these:
The savings in time and aggravation is WELL worth having to buy new bolts, nuts and washers.
By the time I got the chairs apart, it was dark, and a cold front came through, so the painting won't take place until this weekend.
My plan is to paint them white, and make new cushions. I have pinned a few inspiration photos, these are my two favorites: White cushions and Colorful cushions.
Until next time .....
