Yard Work

Yesterday, we decided that we'd had enough with working on the inside of the house, and started focusing on our yard again. As winter is stepping in it's going to start raining soon, so we had to start burning all the debris that was on our yard. And when there are so many trees on the property that makes for a lot of debris. I invited my folks over to help, mostly because my mom likes to be part of a debris burning party.

We found out that we had a science experiment on our hands once the blaze took off. Apparently sound doesn't travel through intense heat. I could talk to Erin on the other side but my voice sounded like it was coming from either side of the fire, not through it. Try it out, it's really neat. (Disclaimer: I am not recommending that you begin a large fire on your property or anywhere else. Check with your local authorities, and apply for permits where neccessary. Be sure to contact the fire department 48 hours prior to setting your blaze. Unless you live in Gig Harbor, and can just create any fire however large at any time.)

You can see in the picture below how we already have a large pile to burn to the right of the fire. It was a perfect day to burn as it was a little overcast with very little wind so the smoke went mostly straight up. It rained the day before and again during the evening, with little to no risk of the fire spreading. However, I just checked and at 8am this morning it is still burning away with a visible flame after raining all night.

Many of you may remember that I love watching Little House on the Prairie. I thought I'd perform a little Pa Ingalls on the firewood leftover from the previous owners. But they left some horrible, knotty wood; although, I did manage to split a few. My dad gave me back my old maul that I used back in High School to help pay for mission trips for church. (I'm sure he'll call it his, but I don't see him using it again any time soon, so I'm keeping it.)

Not pictured is our cat, Six, who we let roam in the outdoors with us. His front paws have been de-clawed, so we don't let him out much and it shows. He doesn't let us near him when he's outside because he thinks he's in trouble and we'll take him back inside. At one point when it looked like he was trying to escape, he scoweled and hissed at me when I went to touch him. I backed off and he ran back into the house. As soon as he was just within the door, he calmly said "Meow." and I could pet him without fear of attack.