Hedges '26

The hedges have been trimmed for another year. It's a big job, at least from my perspective. I drimmed them myself the first few years, rationalizing that a hedge trimmer would cost less than paying a contractor. And maybe it did. Until I missed a year and had to deal with two years' growth. I injured myself. I went back to the contractors to take over the job. It takes three guys one full day to do it all, including the clean-up (it took me several days, maybe a week). They have the tools and the expertise needed for the job. Not cheap, but worth every centime.

A small section of the trimmed hedge around our property seen from the kitchen window. The garbage bin is for scale. The neighbors' short hedges are visible across the road.

Last night was chilly. I piled the blankets on for a comfortable sleep. But, ooh, getting out of bed during the night was walking into a refrigerator. Brr! 

Squalls

The current weather is unsettled. Yesterday we heard thunder nearby without seeing a storm and had numerous rain squalls with no thunder or lightning. Temperatures are dropping; our heat came on this morning. The forecast is for diminishing rain and lower temperatures, then warming up again through the weekend.

Stormy skies.

Tasha is feeling more like normal now and thanks you for all of your well wishes. Woof! Just a case of normal dog behavior, as we suspected. 

Tasha Tuesday

Good news and not so good news. First, good news: our landscape contractor texted me yesterday morning that he and his crew would be coming to do the hedges. Yes! Yes! They spent the whole day and did a spectacular job. I don't have photos, yet, because it's now raining. But I'm not complaining.

Tasha patrols a vineyard parcel.

Not so good news: Tasha's got a belly ache. We think that she gobbled up something on her walk and it's made her sick. Constipated, maybe. She threw up her breakfast yesterday and didn't even touch today's. So, we're keeping an eye on her and giving her free access to the yard if she needs it. I'm pretty sure this type of thing has happened before.

Let's try this again

Here's a picture of the South Forty again, this time with some of the West Forty visible. None of the Norty Forty can be seen from here.

The South 40 in gold, part of the West 40 on the right. Somehow I got the camera into panorama mode. Kind of an interesting shot, so I kept it.

As promised, it rained most of the day yesterday. One of our neighbors was having a party. They had put up a party tent, so there was some shelter from the rain. Fortunately for them, the weather cleared out in the middle of the afternoon and the revelers were able to enjoy being outside. Most of them left the party between 20h and 21h (8pm and 9pm for those not on the 24 hour clock).

Rain day

It's raining this morning. I took this photo from the guest room window overlooking the "south forty," as I call it. You can see that we need the rain, at least on the surface, to green up the grass. Plants with deeper roots seem to doing just fine. Rain is forecast for pretty much the whole week ahead. Ugh.

The South Forty and the Real Fake Well.

There's too much blue in the image. I could have adjusted that in software (along with the perspective), but I'm still having some technical problems as far as photo editing and storage go, so it is what it is.

Utility poles and snowballs

This is the road-side part of our neighbors' property. The utility poles carry our electricity (the line between our hamlet and the rest of the local network is under ground) and fiber optic lines for telephone and internet. There's a concrete pole and a wooden pole. I wonder if there are plans to put it all underground and eliminate the visible wires and the poles. We haven't heard of any.

Our neighbors' snowball bush is in full bloom right now.

Last evening we heard thunder. The low rumbling kind. There were two instances out to the east and north and then it was over. I saw no lighting (we still had daylight) and there was no rain. 

Labor Day

Today is la Fête du Travail (Labor Day) in France. It's a national holiday, so a lot of businesses will be closed today. This is the first of many holidays in May, so stay tuned.

Machinery in rust.

Here's yet another view of some old machinery on the Artsy Organized Neighbor's property. Looks like it could be (or could have been) a harvester of some sort. But what the heck do I know?