First, the kitchen is all installed. What remains to do is mainly cosmetic things like finish the beams in the kitchen area, paint and put in the gas piping for the propane range, and the counter top. The granite company will come do a template on April 8th and then a month later bring us the counter top to install, with the new sink which is still sitting on the front porch next to the range. Still putting things back into shelves and cabinets, but it already feels so much more useful. We re-used the old countertop since the configuration is similar, and could make it work.
We decided to also go ahead and install the faucet as the old one was having issues, and while they were at it they hooked up the ice cube maker in the freezer.
So on to the next step. We need to remove two trees which are right next to the house and could conceivably come down in a high wind storm, crushing the addition to the house we plan on building on the east side of the house.
View to the east. This was taken with a wide angle lens so the mountain looks smaller and farther away that it actually is. As you can see, most of the snow is gone in the lower elevations. Spring!!
The trees we need to remove both lean a bit to the east, due to the prevailing winds which come down the mountain, following the creek.
This is the east end of the house, with the two large trees immediately behind it. They did provide a lot of really nice shade but they were hazardous and so they had to go.
Our friend Jack is standing next to the base of the tree, cutting out the notch on the side of the tree where he wanted it to fall, using a chain saw with a long cutting bar and chain. He put both trees pretty much exactly where he wanted them to go. It’s quite the art.
This is the first tree. See all the sap running down the trunk? That’s a sign the tree has an injury. At first we thought it was from limbing the tree to help with fire hazard, but Jack pointed out a large crack and woodpecker activity, indicating the tree had issues.
View looking up. I love trees!!
The crack in the trunk traveled all the way into the core of the tree. There is no rotten wood yet but it was only a matter of time, and with a house in the way of where the tree was leaning, falling it later would have been way more difficult.
Second tree, coming down.
FALLING!
Faster!
Boom! It hits the dirt, literally.
The very funny thing was when each tree hit the dirt, the local flock of Wild Turkeys all yelled about it, at once. There was a loud chorus of “Gobble gobble gobble!!” They obviously objected to our activity.
While all of this is going on, I’m working on a knitting project. I’ve reached the halfway point in my pattern.
I can’t hardly wait until I can block this and see how it really looks.
The yarn is a kid mohair in a variegated gray range from light to dark. I won’t be able to block it until the addition is completed because at this point I don’t have any room in the house which I can devote to the task.