First Day of Fall

I love fall. Cool nights, warm days and fog melted by sun. Hopefully it will start raining here, soon. Really soon.

El Nino's supposed to be blasting through California this winter. According to the weather gurus, it will affect Southern California the most, but we'll be affected, too. In preparation, we're having the five cypress trees behind our house taken out.

They've started looking sickly the past couple of years. Not having lived with cypress trees before, we didn't know better, but the tree guy did. One look and, 'they're infested with beetles'. He even showed hubby where the beetles get in and out.

That's not a good thing. High wind, weak trees and... I really don't want to "buy" our backdoor neighbor's house, so the trees have got to go. And they will, tomorrow, and that's sad.

I like trees. I like the way they look, their shade, their smell. Not wild keen on their pollen, of course. That makes my eyes water, so that's a downside. But their good things offset the few weeks of misery they cause, so I'll think of them next summer when the sun is beating against the back of the house without respite.

Upside: my laundry will dry faster and I can put it out for more weeks in the year since the sun will be able to linger on it longer.

Downside: the sun will burn us up on hot days next summer - no shade to mitigate the heat.

Our neighbors aren't thrilled, that's for sure. Even though it's their house that's in the line of fire if one or more of those trees blow over.

When they heard about the trees coming down, they started complaining because they won't have "privacy". Well, here's a newsflash: they don't have much privacy, now, and neither do we.

It's not as if we're peeping Toms. I'm not. Ew. Particularly with the very average overweight, middle-aged guy who's got the annoying habit of whistling (badly) every minute of every day. Not the guy of my dreams and definitely not stalk-worthy. Middle aged spread and balding. Ew. I get that at home, thanks. Except the whistling. My hubby doesn't whistle.

His wife is, in my opinion, attractive, but hubby complains about her "always being there, in the kitchen". Not the declaration of a man in lust with his neighbor's wife. Otherwise he'd keep his mouth shut and linger by the windows upstairs to catch a glimpse. There are other signs, too. Things said and so on. But we'll just let it lie there because otherwise I'll cut too close to the privacy barrier I'm trying to maintain here.

So. If we're in our downstairs we can't see anything. There's a fence and humongous rose bush in the way. All we can see is the back of their house and their upper windows on which they have shades and blinds and drapes.

If we're in our upstairs we could, if we wanted to, watch them through their downstairs windows, so long as they stand at their kitchen sink or stand right next to their back door into the yard. That's it. Their lack of privacy is two windows and they have to stand right by them to be exposed.

Now maybe they're taller than I am, and maybe they can see over the fence, but now they want to put a trellis across the top of the fence. Which would be, considering the age and condition of the fence, a complete waste of money.

The builder of this subdivision cut corners every which way to Sunday on these houses. Our six-foot 'good neighbor' fence wasn't constructed out of redwood or Douglas fir. I'm not sure the species of wood, but in fifteen years it's already rotting away. Not a little rotting away, a whole lot. As in the wood, in places, is held together by the layer of paint.

The bottom section is a 12-inch plank laid across the bottom of a panel with five foot boards above it. That saved a lot of money because I suspect those bottom sections are plywood. Each of those sections saved about ten linear feet of fence board material across each panel. I can't say for sure that they're plywood, because they're painted and I never really paid attention and looked for the tells along the edge (the layering), but even if they're not, they're some kind of cheap soft wood. The 3x3 posts are rotting and the whole thing is sagging like a drunken sailor.

Hubby doesn't want to pay to get it fixed or replaced, so I'm wondering what's going to happen when the trees come out. I think I know. It'll fall over. The rotten posts and pieces will disintegrate. So the lady of the house behind us might get her wish - a new fence with a trellis. I don't know. I just know that I hate to see those trees come down.

The great news that came out of that decision is that over the weekend, preparing for the tree service guys, hubby got the bug to clear the deck and patio of the furniture. (I hate that furniture - it's covered in mold and green growth and it's dirty and...) Seeing the cleared up backyard he said, 'that looks pretty good. Maybe we should get a dumpster and get rid of that stuff.'

I hope he didn't see me fall to my knees, praying that he would call the trash company for a dumpster.

The only problem with that will be that my "clothesline" will go away, too.

Ours has been very much of a Beverly Hillbillies / trailer trash existence. He doesn't want to spend a penny on anything, so we make due. It's galling to me because I don't see the problem with fixing or replacing what's broke, but he doesn't want to spend money on it. A bone of contention and one that has caused me to develop scars inside my mouth from biting my lips. Complaining doesn't accomplish anything. The wall would be more responsive, and less argumentative.

The upside, and yes, there is an upside, is that we don't spend the money we have. It's saved. So when we do need / want it, it will be there, but living day-to-day is... Low class. Best description, most honest and not what I want, but... Waddaya do?

The furniture is one thing I've wanted to get rid of. It looked great for the first five years, but age took its toll and it was past it's prime about three summers back.

The vinyl chairs could be resurrected with a good scrubbing. If we ever used them. But they were bought for 'show' and were rarely, if ever, used. So I'd be happy to see them go.

What's going to be a problem is the bench swing. The foam seat rotted after about ten years, so we took that out and pitched it. Then we were left with the frame. Which we repurposed by stringing it with clothesline. That became my "dryer" during the summer. For the towels and sheets and big stuff, we strung clothesline from the frame of the swing over to the posts along the edge of the deck. A seriously Trailer Trash look, but it worked so I tolerated it.

Now, with the clearing, that's been moved onto the deck, out of the way, and the trailer trash look is gone! What a relief!! And hubby may break down and rent a bin. I think I'm going to push that now, while the backyard still looks clear. Otherwise he'll probably swing back down into same-old-same-old and the opportunity will be missed.

Then - once that's cleared up and my clothesline is gone, too, I'll go to Home Depot or Lowes or find something online and buy an inexpensive replacement - a real clothesline thingie.

So - that's how my fall is starting off. I hope yours is just as exciting!

Best~
Philippa

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White Rabbit: 'I'm late! I'm late! Ohh look... Trees!'

No existential stream of consciousness this morning, even though the kick-starting is just kicking in at 9:30 (the 'I'm late' part). Let's talk TREES. Big trees. Pretty trees. Pretty Big Trees:

Armstrong Woods over in Guerneville (Gurn-ville for non-locals) is a quieter, much less developed but only barely less striking version of Muir Woods. It's out of the way and off the radar for most visitors, so it doesn't have the scads of tour buses, meandering clusters of tourists staring up at the trees and blocking the pathways. It's an easier place to be. To be quiet. To relax and be peaceful.

There are both paved paths and unpaved trails - some of which extend up the surrounding hills although I have not yet found a treeline where I can stop and get views (but then I haven't hiked all of the trails there). Picnic tables are scattered around, and there are some facilities although they're not as well-developed as those at Muir Woods.

The best time of year to visit is spring - late April and May. By then, when we actually get rain, it will have mostly stopped and it's cool but generally not too cold (layers are a good idea, anyway). The wood sorrel and trillium, along with a variety of other plants, will have sprung up to carpet the understory. There are also many days in April and May where the inland valleys are still cool enough that the fog doesn't come in from the coast, bringing with it the clouds and wind. Those days can be sparkling clear although still chilly.

At that time of year, though, the unpaved hiking trails can be muddy and slippery, so beware! Especially if you bring Fido (who must be leashed at all times!) and he decides to jump, skip and play in the puddles.

More information is available here:  http://www.parks.sonoma.net/armstrng.html

Since it's so close to Guerneville and the Russian River there are places to eat, or you can buy 'stuff' at the local grocery and find a quiet spot for a picnic. The river offers kayaking and swimming, and there are nearby campgrounds.

Santa Rosa is only about 20 minutes or so to the east (Guerneville is actually accessed most easily from the River Road exit from Highway 101, just north of Santa Rosa), and there are plenty of hotels and restaurants there.

Hope you'll check it out - either online or in person.

Best~
Philippa

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