This weekend we decided it was the right time to pack up the Christmas ornaments and move the tree back outside.
Moving the tree back outside was well timed with our yard-waste pickup on Monday morning.
They do have restrictions on size, so I took the loppers (spell-check please) and de-branched the trunk. The branches went into the yard-waste bin, and the trunk remained out in the cold.
Adding the tree debris to the yard-waste made our compost happy.
During the winter our yard-waste bin can become an interesting stew, since it is almost always just compost. I have to believe the yard-waste haulers don’t always appreciate this stew when they dump the bin. But since most of the dump is done by the truck, I don’t worry too much.
As I was finishing the tree chore, I recalled Carl mentioning that I had not pruned the raspberry bushes yet. This is traditionally a January chore. It was cold (by Seattle standards) with frost on the lawn, but it was also sunny. The raspberry bushes were in the sun, and I doubted I would get another sunny, dry weekend day in January, so it was a chore calling my name. I pruned and pulled, cut down an interloping tree, and added a few nearby blackberry bushes to the bin.
Yesterday was a bit more focused on continuing the move into the house. We took a print we had acquired several years ago to be framed. (WOW – matting and framing was a BIT more expensive than we guessed.) We also put together the pantry since the shelves had arrived. Also spent some time trying to figure out what type of pavers to use on the side of the house for a sidewalk that is shared with our neighbor. Once this has been decided probably the last real part of the house project of 2013 can be completed. (That is if you don’t count putting the door hardware back on the doors. Some things just linger.) ((Oh, and hanging artwork on the walls.))
And for good measure I started working on taxes today.
I don’t have TurboTax yet, but gathered car and work information that I will need for Carl’s self-employment figuring. The big change this year could be trying to count our sales tax expense instead of using the standard deduction. I know you can add in big expenses for cars easily, but don’t know if that can be done for contractor payments.
Raincharm's Weblog 
January 5, 2014 at 9:40 pm |
Ack, did you have to bring up the t-word? My husband always dealt with them, so last year was STRESSFUL. My little rosemary treat is the garage where I hope it survives. I wouldn’t mind using it again next year. Keeping plants alive is not my strong suit however. I do prefer this clear(but cold) weather to the fog or gray clouds. (or horrible freezing temps and snow that the middle and east parts of the country are having!)