Harvesting The Tree

The remains of our huge oak tree has been lying in our front yard since it fell in the weird Derecho storm in July.  In early August when we came home from our trip to Alaska (which I still have to share with you ... more patience, please), we hired a crew to cut off the limbs, grind the stump, and remove all the debris. 

On my instructions, the crew left behind a long section of the trunk, a shorter section of trunk, and a large limb.  My hope was to find someone who could mill these parts into boards to be made into something one day.  It's almost like a real life case of 'your wish is my command', because Ferguson Custom Sawmill came riding in last week with their portable sawmill and made my wish come true.

While Kyle and his helper David worked, I took photos ... no big surprise, right.  I tried to do my best to show the job of slabbing our huge log from start to finish.  It was an all-day process, fascinating to watch as they worked.  As they finished for the day, I gave Kyle a cd containing all of my photos.  He was grateful, because he obviously can't get photos of the two of them working WHILE they're both working unless they have someone else there to take them.  I was happy to oblige ... Kyle is a nice young man ...  and he has this great new business to promote.

This is how it went:

Here is Kyle, using the circular saw head to true-up the top of the log.

Changing to the chainsaw head for the rest of the job.

They cut the log into precise 3" slabs.

Two down, lots more to go.

They set wedges in the saw cut as they worked, to keep the kerf open so the blade wouldn't bind.

The slabs were WAY too heavy to move by hand, so they used straps and the tractor to transport them to the pile.

Now they're getting to the center of the log, where there was some rot at the bottom.

Sawdust flew like this all day.

This log is 40 inches wide at this point!

Slow and steady, the guys work carefully as they finish this cut.

The slabs with rot are supported on that end during transport with a 6-foot steel bar, to spread the stress of the carrying strap and prevent the slab from splitting down its length.

Such lovely grain in this old white oak tree!

Even though that center slab has the most rot of any of them, it still has a LOT of usable wood.

They're getting to the bottom of the log now.  Look at all that sawdust!

There goes the last slab!

What an impressive pile of wood!

This tree has been a part of our property since the beginning, and now it can live on INSIDE the house as furniture ... after its drying period in the barn, of course.

I still mourn this tree ... it was such a dominant feature in our front yard, and I haven't gotten used to the emptiness that is there now.  Now I have hope, though, to replace the feeling of tragedy and loss.  This pile of huge slabs of wood represents our tree's next phase of life.  It's under a tarp in the front yard right now, but we will soon stack it under cover in the barn, where it will sit and dry for a year or two ... until it's ready to be used to make something that will continue to live with the house. 

Checking In

I realized earlier today that it's been a while since I wrote anything here.  It's not that I have less to say ... quite the opposite, actually.  There is lots to tell you about, with our Greyhounds Rock Fredericksburg fundraiser gathering next month, and stuff happening around the house ... I just haven't had as much time as usual to be on the computer.

My last two days have been spent cutting and sewing martingale collars to restock the Greyhounds Rock booth for two shows we are doing this weekend.  Working two shows on the same day means that we have to split our stock, and I have to make more collars than I usually do. 

Alice was with me for company for a while as I worked.

 

I'm still not finished.  Though I wanted to do other things tomorrow, I will spend at least half of the day continuing to sew. 

Each collar we sell is $20 more donated to the cause ... with the goal to one day find effective treatments (and eventually a cure) for canine cancer ... this keeps me motivated.

For those of you who are local, you can find Greyhounds Rock at Fredericksburg's Downtown Dog Fair on Saturday, and at the Fredericksburg Wine Festival on Saturday and Sunday.

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Edited on Friday morning to add:

Ms. Alice got a bit too involved with the process of cutting strips of iron-on adhesive this morning.  She swished her plume of a tail across the path of my rotary cutter ... lost a puff of tail fur in the encounter.  I shooed her down off the table after this.

Anyway ... I have to back to sewing now.

Front Porch Progress

I'm still working on the front porch ... a little at a time ... still breaking the job into really small, easily accomplished bits.  This weekend's part of the project was to choose and install crown molding to trim the newly painted beadboard ceiling.  I got half of the project finished.

The irregularity in the gap at the top of the molding is from the wavy old-house ceiling.  This will be hidden once the crown molding is up.

I am installing a two-piece crown, using a piece of baseboard upside down to trim the facing wall, and a crown molding installed over that.  While I was standing at Home Depot, I could only decide on which baseboard to use, so I bought that and will choose a crown later this week.

In the meantime, I am reveling in this latest small accomplishment.  The baseboard-crown-backer is up, and caulked, and the porch is looking a lot prettier ... little by little.

A Very Special Visitor

Stephen Scanniello is the former director of the Cranford Rose Garden at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, is currently the president of the Heritage Rose Foundation, and was honored last year as one of the Great Rosarians of the World.  He is an author of numerous rose books, a popular speaker, and a helluva nice guy.

 

 

 

I first met Stephen about five years ago, when he was the featured speaker at the spring garden symposium at the Lynchburg City Cemetery.  He and I hit it off, and we have seen each other from time to time at other rose events ... and we email about various things occasionally. 

 

 

 

 

Earlier in the year, I contacted him to ask if he would be interested in taking my remaining rose inventory for garden projects that he is working on in Harlem ... and he gratefully accepted my offer.  He had other business in my general area this weekend, so he combined trips and swung by here yesterday afternoon to pick up the roses.

 

 

 

Stephen Scanniello was here ... at my house ... and in my unholy mess of a garden.  I should have been mortified, but it was quite the opposite experience.

 

 

 

When the garden is as big a mess as mine is now, the roses that are doing well shine even brighter ... flaunting their flowers despite the weeds and neglect.

Stephen and I walked the garden and talked about the roses (of course).  We both have a particular fondness for found roses, and I introduced him to some of my favorites.

 

 

 

 

We also put our heads together about a project that I will be working on at Hollywood Cemetery (more on this later in a separate post). 

 

 

 

Though the sky was cloudy, and we had brief spells of light rain, my visit here with Stephen was absolutely lovely.  There's nothing much better than sharing roses and conversation like this.  It was a great way to spend the afternoon.

 

 

 

(All of the photos in this post were taken yesterday, shortly before Stephen arrived.  The overcast sky created a perfect soft light, and the roses were patient and willing subjects.)

Drapery Design Dilemma

As if I don't already have enough going on right now, with planning for our Greyhounds Rock benefit in November, sewing martingale collars for our booth at three shows over the next two weekends, and all of the other normal everyday stuff that happens ... I'm working on a plan to make drapes for our dining room and family room. 

Up until now, I have been satisfied with our undressed windows.  I'm getting the urge to cozy things up a bit, though, and I want to add some color at the same time.  (I will show you the fabric I chose later ... that's not part of my dilemma.)  I have simple panels in mind, gathered on a large rod ... floor to ceiling, pulled back beyond the window glass so we still get maximum light.  This plan falls apart when I try to figure out how to accomplish this in the family room bay.

This is a photo taken at the end of our renovation of this room in 2007 ... right after the heartpine floors were refinished.

 

 

To give you an idea of the scale of this room, the windows are 5 feet, 7 inches high, they are 3 feet from the floor, and the ceiling is 9 1/2 feet high.  Little cute curtains will not do in a space like this ... it's going to take something with presence ... Here is my inspiration photo:

 

source:  The Gardener's Cottage 

 

 

The 4-sided bay windows in our house are a very distinctive Gothic Revival design feature, both inside and outside.  The previous owners of our house made very traditional, old-fashioned choices with window treatments ... attractive, but not my style.

 

 

 

Here is a floorplan, to give you a visual on the space I'm talking about.

 

 

 

 

There is a mere two inches between the edge of the window and the side wall.  I would love to treat the two windows as one unit and put a long panel on either side, on the same plane as the windows, but there is so little room in which to do this.  Panels hung this way would cover the window more than I want. 

 

 

 

I thought about putting a panel in the center, to perhaps help with the balance, but that still doesn't solve my problem. How do I design and hang panels in this space with its odd angles and close clearances?

 

 

 

The other three windows in my plan will be very straight-forward to deal with ... rod across the top above the molding with panels hanging on each side.  Easy peasy.

 

 

 

The bay window has me in fits, so I'm asking everyone for suggestions.  Any ideas you have on how to do this will be extremely appreciated.  In my mind's eye, I see this requiring a weird multi-angled rod system in the bay, but there has to be a simpler way to do this that I am overlooking.

 

Thanks in advance for any ideas that you have to contribute.

 

Now I'm off to work outside.  I have a special visitor coming this afternoon and I have to finish getting things ready.

 

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Edited to add:  We have little need for privacy here, being out in the country the way we are, and these drapes will never, ever be closed.  They will be gathered dummy panels, for decoration only, so function is not part of the dilemma. 

 

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11/26/12.  Edited again.  Still haven't made the drapes for the family room, but at least I know where I'm going with them now.  The ones in the dining room are finished, and they are beautiful.  Click HERE to see them.

 

 

Greyhounds Rock at the Fredericksburg Pet Expo

Ruby and Daniel and I were part of the Saturday afternoon shift at the Greyhounds Rock Fredericksburg booth at this weekend's Fredericksburg Pet Expo.  Our job was to spread the word about canine cancer and how GRF supports the work of the Greyhound Health and Wellness program at Ohio State University's vet school. 

This is Danny, a new greyhound Service Dog that was trained for support and mobility by our friends at Greyt Hearts.  We loved seeing him with his new mom.

Having Daniel at the booth provides a real life example of a dog who is undergoing successful cancer treatment.  It is a blessing that he feels so well AND can work the booth the way he does ... his grey face and bright eyes drew people in like bait.  Ruby comes with us to work on her socialization in strange situations and to show that GRF has greyhounds as the face of the organization, but the work that we support benefits all breeds of dogs ... the fact that Ruby is cute as can be doesn't hurt either.

Blurry iPhone photo in the low light of the exhibition hall, made even blurrier when I played with it using PicMonkey.  It still shows Danny's sweet face and bright eyes.

 

In addition to giving out information, promoting our benefit weekend in November, and trolling for donations, we were selling our martingale collars and felted wool leashes.  Folks loved the leashes (they're so soft!) and they were fascinated by the limited-slip feature of the martingale collars that is great for ANY dog whose head is smaller than their neck.

This is Sinbad, an energetic Bull Terrier, in his new martinale collar.

 

 

By the time the Expo closed yesterday, Ruby and Daniel had given up their job as booth greeters and they were sharing a dog bed, trying to get some rest.  They deserved it, because being out in public like that is really tiring. I was tired, too, after talking almost nonstop for the entire afternoon ... and we were all more than ready to get ourselves out of there and go home.

 

 

 

Time is ticking toward our big annual Greyhounds Rock benefit weekend ... November 3 and 4, at the Fredericksburg Hospitality House and Conference Center.  This is our seventh year, and it gets bigger and better every year, and requires more work and time on the part of our volunteers.  It's worth it, though, because we know that what we do, and the money we raise to support the program at OSU, helps real live dogs ... like Daniel!  (The vets at OSU consulted on Daniel's case and helped narrow down his confusing symptoms to get a definite diagnosis.)

 

For all the details and a schedule of activities for our event, click HERE to visit the Greyhounds Rock web site.  We are thrilled to have two very special programs this year ... our Saturday night speaker is Fabien Cousteau (ocean explorer, environmentalist, and dog lover), and our Sunday brunch guests are Jim Nelson and Rene Agredano (founders of the Tripawds online community).  It will be a great weekend, full of information, vendors, dogs, and FUN.