After you’ve trimmed your trees up, go back inside and relax for a few days - especially if there are heavy branches.  By keeping the branches out for several days, they’ll dry out thereby will be lighter to move when you dispose of them, mulch, or put them on the curb for city pick-up (if your city does this).

Happy September!

When we first moved to our current house, the pine trees in the back yard were a hot mess.  In fact, it was clear the previous home owners paid no attention to keeping their yard trimmed back - even the hedge shrubs were about six feet tall.

The first thing we did was trimmed them to about 4 feet tall.  We didn’t want them so high that someone could hide behind them since our place is somewhat isolated.  After that all the trees were trimmed up so that we could walk underneath them without a branch hitting our heads.

Take a walk in a local park and observe … you’ll see that you can walk under trees and even magnolias, pines, evergreens, etc. can look gorgeous when their branches are not growing so that they touch the ground.  Though it’s a lot of hard work, trimming trees up will give your yard the “park-like” appearance.

For more information about the best time to trim, visit here.

We have a birdbath that we need to pay more attention to.  When it’s there, birds flock to it.  This was pretty neat, I thought, for a Friday Fun Video!

I tried to videotape our hummingbirds today as they now love our feeder since we used plain sugar and water.  No luck, though.  Have a great weekend!

We’ve heard for years that the forests of the Earth are disappearing at an alarming rate.  The new map created by NASA is the very first global map using a uniform method for measure that show the height of the forests.

The new map confirms that the world’s tallest forests are clustered in the Pacific Northwest of North America and some parts of Southeast Asia. Temperate conifer forests—which are moist and harbor species such as Douglas fir, western hemlock, redwoods, and sequoias—have the tallest canopies (over 131 feet high). Undisturbed tropical rain forests are about 82 feet high, around the same height as oak and birch trees.

It looks like my part of the country has a multitude of tall trees, but we’re about to lose a holly in my own yard that’s growing into the power lines.

H/T Les Jones.

From the site Epic Win: For the Win, the best chair for outdoors ever EVER!

Growing up we always had a big bountiful garden with green beans, corn, peppers, squash, watermelon, tomatoes (those were the best) and whatever else my parents were in the mood for when they picked up their seeds each year.  I always helped to freeze the corn, but never cared for the canning part.

The BEST, however, was eating the fresh vegetables!

The question is - can you really save money by planting a garden?  According to The Freelance Farmer, you can!

For 50cents, we could get a 4-pack of some slightly droopy veggies that were leftover from the initial purchasing rush the weeks before.  We bought broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, brussels, and kohlrabi.  We also paid less than a buck each for tomatoes, peppers, and a handful of onion bulbs.

Our initial investment of around $10 (including some bean, pea, squash, and watermelon seeds) will get us a sure profit on our cash spent — and little time has been dedicated beyond my husband’s initial tilling, planting, and fence-building.

I miss the home grown vegetables. I think next year I may try to build a box garden since my soil is too rocky to sustain one here.

H/T Being Frugal.

Photo by Di The Huntress via Flickr Creative Commons.

I’ve been practicing photography in my yard and in the yards of whomever I happen to be visiting.  With the flowers now in full bloom, my photographer’s eye is busy spotting great shots.  Here are some of my favorites.

Just like the I Can Has Cheezburger, Epic Fail, and the People of Wal Mart, I also love the Epic Win site.  Especially when I saw this amazing photo:

FTW!