Time to Trim - Day 1

 Rick maintains that if all the people left Florida, the area would return to a jungle within 12 months.  We have been gone from Gladys for nine months, and by looking at the state of our vegetation, I would have to agree with him.  A few more months away, and we would have a good start on our own little jungle.

We had already spent a little time on Wednesday taking care of the front gardens.  I had a bag of debris just from trimming the trees in the front, from pulling a few weeds, and from getting things in order there. Today, since the weather started in the sunny 70s, we decided to tackle the back yard.

The first branches to come down belonged
to the neighbor's invasive Brazilian Pepper Tree.

Moving further back in the yard, Rick
worked on removing branches that would
impact our electrical lines.

Each year Rick has to take our long-handled trimmers and cut back the neighbor's trees that grow over the fence into our electrical lines.  This year was no exception.  This summer must have been a great growing season for trees despite the alternating drought and hurricane rains because those trees needed a LOT of trimming. We gathered at least five bundles of branches that I carried out to the curb for pick-up on Monday.

After much hard, overhead work, Rick
cleared the south fence line of branches.

This picture shows the corner garden
before I cut down the purple Ti plant.
Note the difference in the Ti plants
in the picture above this one.

I had cut the gardenia tree in the corner garden down to about three feet before we went home in March, and as the picture shows, it has grown above the fence.  I only had a little time today to work on that garden since Rick needed my help with trimming the oak tree on the opposite side of the lawn.  I was able to cut down the two tallest Ti plant stems so that it no longer towers over the fence or grows into the gardenia tree.  I will have to finish trimming that garden tomorrow.

Low-hanging branches were a hazard
to our lawn service crew.

Once again, Rick uses the long-handled saw
to trim branches away from the yard
and the roof of the house.

The oak tree had branches hanging so low that I am sure the woman who mows our lawn had to duck to get under them.  Rick almost killed himself trying to cut through one large branch by hand, but eventually that, too, fell.  That debris added another three bundles to branches that went to the curb.

The Areca palm needed a haircut!

Once that was finished, I moved on to the Areca palm in the other corner garden.  Each year I trim out dead branches and trim back the fronds so they do not touch the fence or go over the fence.  This year I had an entire bundle of branches to remove.  It badly needed a good trimming!

The after-trimming picture shows
how much I cut off.  It will continue to grow tall.

My final challenge was a heartbreaking one.  I have loved watching my red hibiscus plant grow and bloom, but a couple of years ago, it became infested with aphids.  Barbie, my neighbor, waters my flowers in the summer, and she treated it for aphids with limited success.  When I returned in the fall, I did the same.  This year, the leaves are turning yellow, and the whole plant was just woody and spindly.  

The hibiscus was tall but spindly, 
and the leaves were all dying.

Although it did have a couple blossoms on it, a closer examination showed me that each branch was just crawling with aphids.  I am done fighting them.  I don't know if they are more prevalent in that area because of the tree or of the shade, but I cut the hibiscus down to the ground.  On Monday, I will dig out the roots and try something new in its place. Or maybe I will just let that area blank for a year to make sure that the aphids have moved onward.

The area next to the shed looks bare
without the hibiscus bush.

Eight bundles of debris later, the yard
in back is once again habitable.  I have
yet to haul out the four black bags of
cuttings.  
The garbage men are going to love me!

The high and most difficult trimming is complete, so we both are happy about that.  I will start fresh in the morning to see if I can finish what needs to be done so we can sit on the lanai and enjoy our beautiful back yard.

From Frost to Frying

 After much debate over whether we were going to risk traveling in this COVID-19 infested world, we decided to make the trip to our winter home in Florida. Early in the summer, we figured that air travel was too dangerous, and that this might be the year we "skipped" going south.  However, as the summer progressed, the cases of Covid drastically increased in Wisconsin just as they started to decrease in Florida.  We finally reached the point where we thought that traveling south to Florida was safer than staying in Wisconsin.

I certainly am glad that we are here since I am not a fan of cold weather.  The last walk we took, on a sunny day in Wisconsin, was in weather that never reached above freezing.  Wisconsin has had three snowstorms this past month, and we generally never get snow until about two weeks after Halloween.  If that was any indication of what is to come, then I am doubly glad we are here.

Our flight down was smooth and uneventful.  The plane was more packed than we would have liked it to be, but everyone was required to wear masks, and Rick and I did not have to share our row of three seats with anyone.  

A break in the clouds mimics the landscape 
of the Fox River as it enters Green Bay.

High winds sweep the top of the towering cloud
to the south.

Owen had asked what the clouds looked like from above, so I took pictures of them as we travelled to Florida.  I really have not paid much attention to the clouds as I generally sit in the middle seat of the row, but this time I was in the window seat, so I got some great shots of the cloud formations.

Distant cloud banks form beautiful images.

This cloud looked like a nuclear bomb exploded.

We arrived at about 4:30 Eastern Time to 90 degree weather and were met by our chauffeur in our hired transportation who quickly got us home.  We had time to run to the grocery store for a few essentials, and then we came back to open up the house.  Thankfully, the car worked great when Rick started it, and everything else switched on with little trouble.  We both were exhausted when we went to bed.

We awoke at 7:14 this morning (6:14 Central Time).  I was surprised that we were up at that hour, especially since neither of us slept all that well.  The sad thing is that three days from now, we switch to Daylight Savings Time, so if we could just stay on our Central Time schedule for a couple more days, we would not have to make any adjustment as we move the clocks back an hour this Saturday.  Ah, well...

Today we spent the morning shopping to restock the house.  We really want to quarantine for 14 days after our air trip, but a person has to eat, so we had to go out.  In the last two days, we have spent $400 on food staples, supplies, and food for planned meals.  We should be set for quite a while now, needing only fresh produce and dairy products in the coming weeks.

This afternoon I tackled scrubbing down the front of the house and trimming the front bushes.  The bushes under the bedroom windows all died in the drought this summer, so out they came.  Once the weather cools a little -- we endured 90 degrees again today -- I will have to find some new bushes to plant.

Although the lanai was filthy, a broom,
shop vacuum, bucket of soapy water, 
a long-handled brush, a hose, and lots
of elbow grease turned it back into a habitable place.
(Thanks, Rick.)

While I worked on the front, Rick cleaned out the gutter and then scrubbed down the lanai.  Those jobs took him about three hours, so we both were finished before dinner.  We still have lots of trimming to do with the backyard landscape, but we will wait until this weekend to tackle that job when temperatures are supposed to be cooler.   Our garbage pick-up is on Monday, so weekend trimming means that we do not have to hang on to the bags of debris for too long.

We are glad to be home in Florida.  Hopefully, the weather will cool into more seasonable 70s and 80s so we can continue to walk each day.  We have plenty to keep us busy for a while, and maybe we even will find some time to relax eventually.