Introducing…….Me
On Monday Mr Chiots and I filmed our first video for the Your Day Blog. We put together a blooper reel of all the funny things that happened while we were filming. Mr Chiots and I are a jovial bunch, laughter being the most common sound ringing through the halls and gardens at Chiot’s Run. We have a good time no matter what we’re doing, this video demonstrates what our lives are like – always a barrel of laughs! For all of you who have been reading for years and for those who just stumbled on this blog, here’s the face and voice behind Chiot’s Run.
I’m always the one behind the camera, rarely showing my face in front of the lens (you may have noticed). There’s a reason for that, as an introvert it’s not my favorite thing to do. I dislike having my photo taken and I dislike even more being on video, so it’s kind of funny that I do both those things for a living. When Ethel Gloves hired me to blog for them, they also wanted me to make videos for them. *YIKES* I thought to myself – I must get over my aversion of being in front of the camera! I must admit – it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Head on over to the Your Day Blog at Ethel and watch the final video.
Are you averted to being in front of the camera?
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A Forced Day Off
Early Sunday afternoon, Mr Chiots and I were working in the office and suddenly the lights went out. It was a windy day, but it didn’t seem that bad. We figured the lights would come back on shortly but decided to work outside in the mean time. There’s plenty of work to be done since we have to cut up all those trees we had taken down last Wednesday. We worked outside until sunset and the lights never did come back on.
We came inside, pulled out the old oil lamp that my parents gave us and made some hot chocolate (which is simply made by melting chocolate in warm milk). As we sat at the table sipping our hot cocoa we started to talk about how nice it was to not have all the distractions that we usually have. Since we both work from home we never really leave work. You’ll find us working at our desks at 6:30 am and sometimes at midnight as well. We never really mind when the electric goes out because it forces us to take time off from e-mails, blogging, and clients. At least I had already written and scheduled my blog post for the next day, but didn’t have time to proof it as usual – so sorry about the typos yesterday.
While enjoying our relaxing evening we decided that we’re going to have an electric free day once a month. We’ll turn everything off and spend the day away – truly enjoying time away from all the things that seem to dominate our lives. A day of no e-mail, no checking the radar on-line for rain, no googling answers to questions… It should be an interesting experiment, I’ll be sure to let you know when we’re doing it next month and perhaps you can join us!
How often does the electric go off at your house? Have you ever thought of going electric free on certain days?
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Quote of the Day: Julian Grenfell
The naked earth is warm with Spring, and with green grass and bursting trees leans to the sun’s kiss glorying, and quivers in the sunny breeze.
~Julian Grenfell
Spring has been a little late in coming this year to Chiot’s Run. Usually by now we’re seeing tulips and a few blooming trees. This year the daffodils have just started and the soil has just thawed enough to plant peas & potatoes. A full month after the “usual” planting time.
In spring it seems that sky is always bluer, the sunsets more golden and the grass greener than you’ve ever seen before. I definitely appreciate living in an area where each season is very distinct! I think I appreciate the warmth of the sun as much as the grass does, I feel like I grow taller with each hour I spend in the sun. Perhaps refilling my stores of Vitamin D after the long dark winter.
What do you appreciate most about the spring weather?
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Soaking up the Sun
The last couple days have been fabulous as far as weather is concerned – sunny, not too warm, a nice breeze. I’ve been spending my days making new garden areas in the new lot. I spent all day yesterday at my mom’s planting potatoes, peas, and onions in her garden. As a result, I’m tired, really really tired. Too tired to think of anything creative to say and too tired to download all my photos and process them for a blog post. So instead I leave you with a few photos of our resident fatty cat Dexter enjoying the weather.
Have you been able to spend some quality time out in the garden this spring?
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Timberrrrrrrr
“Wow, those are some big trees” Dan from Steiner Painting said when he showed up yesterday morning. “That’s what I said on the phone” Mr Chiots replied. I suppose he’s used to most people describing a 30 ft tree as a “big” tree. We’re surrounded by old growth trees, most of them well over 100 years old I’m sure. It’s too bad some of them had to come down for the safety of our little cottage.
On one hand it’s sad to see them go, but the ones we had cut down were in rough shape, not healthy trees by any stretch of the imagination. The people that built this house scraped away the soil around the trees to make a flat driveway and they haven’t been doing well the entire time we’ve lived here. We’ve been wanting to have them taken out, we’ve just been waiting to save up the money to do so.
The giant multi-stem maple growing beside our house collects water in the middle of it’s three trunks and made us nervous during every wind storm. It’ll be nice to sleep through a stormy night without wondering if we’ll wake up to the sound of a giant tree coming through the roof.
After four hours of cutting we have four fewer trees at Chiot’s Run, which is a small percentage of the big ones. We still have a nice grove of 20-25 maples in the back for tapping and a few very large cherry trees as well.
The giant 100 ft tulip still stands as they need a taller bucket truck to take it down. We also have 3 more large oak trees that might come down some day. Of course I can’t be too sad about losing a few trees, they’ll be replaced with apples, pears, peaches, nectarine, pear, crabapple and cherry trees. All that wood won’t go to waste either, we’re getting a wood burner so all of it will be used to keep the cottage here at Chiot’s Run warm and toasty during the winter.
We now have a lot of work ahead of us as all the limbs need cleaned up and chipped for mulch. The big logs will be cut up and stacked in the back for firewood. We’re hoping to use some of the smaller logs for stairs in a few different spots around the gardens. I also really want to make this bench with some of the branches, I’ve saved out a few from the maple that was right beside the house. I found this bench in the book Garden Ornaments : A Stylish Guide to Decorating Your Garden.
I love big trees, it’s one of the things we really like about our house. We’re surrounded by woods on 3 sides (well, now 2.5 sides). We still have many many acres of old growth woods behind us that will remain that way since it’s owned by the home owners association we belong to and it’s not allowed to be built on. I can’t wait to see how our little orchard comes together to fill in the spots left by these old trees.
Do you have any big trees on your property? Have you ever had to take down trees?
