Rock Crest Renaissance

It's a billion degrees out - in the 90s, and by the time Mom, K, and I returned from our shelter shift (around noon), Dad was already thrashed. We were short at the shelter, so we had extra work to do. I'd hoped that we could coordinate our arrival with the workers' break so that we could all lend a hand to the chipping effort. As expensive as that machine is and as much as we have to do, we can't let anything stand in our way of getting the debris removed. We certainly don't want to have to pay the workmen to do it if we can do it ourselves, but untangling, hauling and chipping thousand upon thousands of pounds of honeysuckle is no task for wimps. In this heat, it's almost unthinkable. But it has to be done, and we have to do to it.

I was sick and totally off my game all day today. I felt like I was having some kind of heat stroke, which was annoying and aggravating because we have so much to do, and I definitely don't want to be the weak link on team H-H. Knowing that the less I do, the more my already exhausted Mom and Dad have to do makes me feel terrible, so I'm doing my best to suck it up. Thankfully, my "rest" periods corresponded with some decisions and directions needing to be provided to our work crew. We were able to get a giant, scary branch removed that was overhanging the lower driveway's greenspace parking area. We also removed several crappy little trees, moved the boulders out of trucks' and harms' way, and the dudes got to work removing a dead oak tree. A sickly maple will be next and then I can only imagine the beauty of the clearing in the front.

The right side (non-creek-side) of the drive now looks MASSIVE with its debris removed. It makes me giddy, it's so clean and level :)!

After the workers were finished, we had them move the chipper into the back yard so the chipping pain could continue. Since Dad busted his arse in the morning, very little remained to be chipped in the front yard, making it more reasonable to locate that machine in the back for the entire weekend. We've got another thousand+ pounds of material to remove there, so it will be time and money well-spent.

I had to come home and rest and try to get my body temp back down before taking K and her girlfriends to church for a movie night. I'm so glad they're getting to have one last hurrah before school starts. I went back over to the house to help with the chipping of the woodpile behind the back fence. The only way I could get to the pile of branches was to climb up on them, balance on the thicker pieces, and try not to lose my step while pulling out material to be chipped. The darker it got, the less workable that situation became, but I was able to bring the pile down a good 2 feet or so, making it much more reasonable to remove the remaining pieces. It started out about 30' wide by 20' deep by 5' tall. That will be this weekend's project to eliminate.