Chippin' away with Larry the peacock

Saturday was Chipping Day: The day we attempted to rid ourselves of the giant pile of tree stumps, branches, shrubs and who knows what other plant detritus. We started with a long, tall pile, which is only half represented by the photo below, from last October:

The debris pile, back in October. It condensed a bit over time.

The pile was so compacted that to get pieces out Pete had to cut branches and pieces off with a chainsaw. Hayden and Cole lugged them to Bryan (or pulled out branches on their own), and Bryan fed them into the chipper. (I joined in the lugging later.)

Dirty and pooped Hayden on our Pile o' Chip.

The post-chipping debris pile. Still looks overwhelmingly huge, doesn't it?
Time for some fire! Though that will have to wait for another weekend.

I started the day harvesting plants from the more densely grown areas of our property to help fill in the areas near the house that we need to replant. One of the first things I harvested was this toilet, which was in the part of our property that's in the middle of a bend in the private drive we share with our neighbors. (Pete assures me that the guys will haul it away when they remove the rest of the trash from the site.)

Not the harvest I had in mind ...

Hours of work (and, unfortunately, a case of poison oak) netted me these plants. There are multiple plants in each pot, but it still doesn't look like much. I sure hope they survive and multiply!

Our favorite part of the day was hanging out with Larry the peacock. (Pete named him and we love it.) He seems to like the sunflower seeds the guys eat, and he's not particularly shy -- he hung out on the deck with us while we ate lunch. Unfortunately, I accidentally scared him off when I suddenly lurched out of the fern forest with a 3-foot planter in my hands.

Larry peeks into our great room window -- or maybe he's admiring his own reflection.