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Post by Pete on Feb 11, 2024 12:58:47 GMT
There's a hedge behind my house about 40' long & 8' high in half of it & the other half is about 10' high. The lower part can be seen from the road & the other part can't be seen behind my house. It's always been OK with the landlady that I've kept it that way. But last fall I got tired of the thousands of hedge leaves clogging the gutters & covering my patio.
Anyway, I recently asked her husband if it was OK for me to trim it all down to about 3' so it'd be easier for me to manage it during summer. Even though I've got an extendable trimmer it was tough cutting the hedge higher than I am. He said it was OK.
So for the past week I've been working on it for about an hour a day. Doing it now before all the leaves come back to make it easier to get into the center. First I tried his electric chainsaw which worked OK but was annoying dragging a 50' extension cord around that kept getting tangled in the hedge. So next I tried my cordless trimmer. Wasn't made for this job where alot of the lower branches are 1" thick. All it did was chew the bark off.
Found that the easiest & quickest way was to cut the thick branches using long-handled loppers then trimming the thin ones with my trimmer.
Got about 1/5 of it done so far which resulted in a big brush pile. Which I'll soon be burning in the burn pit before I resume trimming. Lotsa work for sure but hey, I'm retired. Gotta do something with my time.  |
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Post by Hank on Feb 11, 2024 18:35:17 GMT
Sounds like your attack will let light back in.
It will need that, water too after it thaws.
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Post by Pete on Feb 11, 2024 18:57:37 GMT
Henry. didn't think about the light but you're right.
Just came back in from trying to burn the brush, no go. Wouldn't catch fire 'cause it's still green. Gonna have to let it dry out for a couple of weeks & try again...
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Post by Hank on Feb 12, 2024 0:19:09 GMT
I was referring to the hedge coming back.
Where it has had no growth in years because it was shaded out.
Sap in it now, fooled by the weather I expect.
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Post by dave2 on Feb 12, 2024 1:43:07 GMT
Wish we lived a bit closer. I've got a nice wood-chipper in the shed. It'll take up to a 3" branch or tree.
We've put it in the back of a pick-up and taken it to our daughter's cottage in Maine and it's really come in handy when clearing brush along the shoreline.
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Post by Pete on Feb 12, 2024 12:57:41 GMT
Henry, I agree, the relatively warm winter we've had resulted in plants still wanting to grow. The other day I saw a dandelion flower in my yard. Which usually aren't seen till well into spring.
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Post by Pete on Feb 12, 2024 13:07:04 GMT
Dave, a wood-chipper sure would come in handy & make short work of all the brush I'll be dealing with. Instead a burning small piles of it one pile at a time & waiting for the brush to dry out.
Reminds of the last time I used one. Two other guys & I were using one at my former job, taking down a huge tree at the mall.
All was going well feeding the chipper until its coolant pump on the motor exploded like a grenade. We heard a loud 'boom' & metal shards whizzing past us. WTH was that?, we shouted.
Upon looking at the motor we saw where the coolant hose to the pump had split so that all the coolant had leaked out. Eventually causing the pump to overheat & blow apart.
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Post by Pete on Mar 5, 2024 12:56:27 GMT
Ha, when I'd said that this would be a 'big' project I hadn't realized how much would be involved. First there's cutting the hedge down from 10' high to 4'. Stacking the limbs into orderly piles so I can grab the thicker ends & drag 'em to the fire pit. Then having to saw & chop the branches into lengths that'll fit into the fire pit. Then waiting a couple of weeks for those to dry out for burning. So far I've got about 5 big piles burned. One more by the pit to chop with 2 others already cut to fit. After that I've gotta cut down another 10 ft length or so of the thickest branches on the rest of the hedge with a chain saw. And follow the steps above. Then go back over the whole 40 ft hedge trimming off the thinner branches with my hedge clippers. Then repeat the steps for burning & finally rake up twigs off the lawn & burn those. Alot more work than I'd anticipated but, heck, I'm retired, got lotsa time on my hands & gotta keep busy somehow lest I vegetate.  |
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Post by swampygal on Mar 5, 2024 23:27:57 GMT
SOUNDS LIKE A BIG JOB YOU HAVE GOING THERE PETE. I DO NOT KNOW HOW COLD IT IS IN PENNSYLVANIA BUT OUR WINTER IS OVER WITH NOW. I HAVE SHORT WINTER'S SO YOU WON'T EVER HEAR ME COMPLAIN LIKE A LOT OF SISSIES DO LOL
IT IS 72 TODAY. THIS MORNING WE GOT A HARD RAIN AND IN SOME AREA'S IT HAILED REALLY HARD. THE SUN IS OUT NOW AND BEAUTIFUL.
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Post by Pete on Mar 6, 2024 11:40:34 GMT
Anna, yeah, it's a big job but I've got alot of it done. Got 3 more large piles of brush burned yesterday.
Our winter here is pretty much over. Past couple of days it's been near 60° & sunny. But over the next 5 days that'll gradually drop to into the 30s with a chance of snow. But it won't lay 'cause the ground's too warm.
Bet they're complaining in the western states 'cause those got up to 12 ft of snow with 100+ MPH winds recently. I hope I never see snow storms like that. Most I've ever seen was when we got 3 ft overnight.
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Post by swampygal on Mar 6, 2024 18:29:49 GMT
@pete............12 ft of snow with 100+ MPH winds..............OMG I CAN NOT EVEN IMAGINE LIVING IN THAT DEEP OF SNOW WITH THAT HIGH OF WIND~!
I HAVE A FRIEND THAT MOVED TO IDAHO FROM LOUISIANA AND HE POSTED A PHOTO OF THE FREEWAY COVERED IT DEEP SNOW. THEY HAD A BLIZZARD.
OH HOW I REMEMBER THE 11 WINTER'S I WAS IN NE OHIO. WE HAD BLIZZARD'S BUT NEVER THAT MUCH SNOW. I REMEMBER ON THE NEWS THEY WOULD WARN PPL TO COVER THEIR FACES TO KEEP FROM WIND BURN.
OH SUCH GREAT MEMORIES OF LIVING UP NORTH.
PETE.....WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OPTION WHERE YOU CLICK ON COMMENT? DID YOU DO AWAY WITH IT?
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Post by Pete on Mar 6, 2024 18:56:13 GMT
Anna, yeah, I removed the Comment option a long time ago 'cause it copied & pasted an entire already read post. Which meant one had to scroll-down thru all that text to read the new post. And when several folks would use Comment in one thread there was a whole lot of scrolling to be done. Which I found annoying. Never made sense to me. Back in the day when one got a written letter, they'd reply & mail it off. They didn't include the letter they'd gotten too. Why? 'Cause folks have memories & can recall what they'd written. |
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Post by swampygal on Mar 6, 2024 19:22:20 GMT
I NEVER EXPERIENCED IT.
BUT THE WAY YOU HAVE IT NOW I CAN CHOOSE TO WRITE IN A LARGER FONT SO I CAN READ WHAT I TYPE. I KNOW IT MUST BE ANNOYING TO YOU AND OTHER'S.
I TYPED IN LARGE FONTS IN A GROUP AND A GIRL SAID "YOU DON'T HAVE TO SCREAM AT ME". OF COURSE I LET HER KNOW WHY I WAS TYPING IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS.
I USUALLY ONLY DO IT ON MY LAPTOP AND SOMETIMES ON MY PHONE JUST DEPENDING HOW MY EYE SIGHT IS AT THE TIME.
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Post by Pete on Mar 6, 2024 23:22:53 GMT
Anna, no, it's not annoying.
Besides what you can do on your end I've increased the text size in the box where you reply to a thread. If you're starting a new thread though, you need to click-on the BBCode button at the bottom of your post to enlarge the text.
Another thing that I do to see all the text better here is to enlarge my screen. I do that by holding down the Ctrl key on my keyboard & then moving the wheel on my mouse forward. I have this group at 130%. Once it's set it stays that way.
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Post by me4now on Mar 7, 2024 1:50:56 GMT
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