More shrubbery photos

Kari sent me a couple photos she took of the shrubbery removal work.

Lights, shrubbery, Bigfoot

Today Donna's daughter, Kari, and her husband, Michael, came over for some yard projects at Donna's place.  They planned to fix/replace the tall yard light in Donna's yard.  It is old, the bulb went out a few years ago, and the bulb isn't made anymore.  Time for a new light.  The light is very high on a pole.  Too tall for most ladders.  Kari's and Michael's tractor was too small to reach the light.  I drove my tractor there.  Even standing in my tractor's bucket Michael was just short of reaching the light.  So we put a ladder in the bucket then he could reach the light.  He replaced the light, and now Donna has light.

Kari and Michael's dog, Max.

The light replaced, now it was time for the shrubbery.  If you remember from this Summer I had to chainsaw part of the shrubbery so the well's pump could be replaced.   The rest of the shrubbery was half alive and half dead.

The initial thought was to chainsaw the dead parts.  But it is hard to chainsaw this shrubbery.  And hard on a chainsaw if you remember how I had to replace my chainsaw's chain and blade after I chainsawed it earlier.  Kari and Michael wanted to remove the entire shrubbery.  They have a plan for new shrubbery next year around the well.

Instead of using a chainsaw, use my tractor.   Initially we hooked a chain to my tractor and one of the shrubbery's root and I pulled it out.

It was hard to reach or find other shrubbery roots.  So I used my tractor's bucket to push and lift and remove the rest of the shrubbery section by section.

There was a smaller shrubbery next to the driveway that was more dead than alive.  I used the tractor's bucket to remove that shrubbery.  I don't have any photos of that shrubbery.

I then used Michael's chainsaw to cut some low branches on other trees.

While I cut those branches Kari and Michael worked with their tractor to gather the shrubbery and pile it elsewhere on Donna's property.  Here is part of the shrubbery.  More to come.

When the chainsaw ran out of gas, I was done cutting branches. I could have put more gas in the chainsaw and cut more branches.  But we had enough cut.  Time for me to stop.

Some of the branches I cut were large enough to use as firewood.  I don't like wasting things.  So I took them home to cut for woodstove logs next year.

While we were working in Donna's yard Bigfoot watched us.

So that was my afternoon today.

Donna's well pump failure

Donna had a well pump failure.  Yesterday her son-in-law replaced a switch that had failed.   By evening the well pump failed again.  This morning a well service guy - the same one who fixed and replaced Jan's failed well pump a few weeks ago - investigated and learned the submersible well pump was failing.  The pump's failure blew the fuses which then affected the switch.  Time for a new pump.  The old pump was 34 years old.

To get to the well and pump some shrubbery needed to be removed.  I was uptown getting groceries when Donna called.  I don't have a cell phone.  While at the grocery store I met Gary, a guy I used to hike with many years ago, who had moved to Utah years ago.  It was a surprise to see him as I hadn't seen him in years.  So we had a long conversation.

By the time I got home, got the phone message, and got to Donna's with my chainsaw, time had passed.  Her sister Jane and John - brother-in-law - were there working to remove shrubbery before the well guy returned with the new pump.  John's chainsaw wouldn't start so he was using a small electric chainsaw to chip away at the shrubbery.  I got my chainsaw started and cut away to find the well pipe.

I was done cutting and taking a rest when the well guy returned.  I had cut a large enough area so he could get his truck up close to help with his work to remove the bad submersible pump and pipe and then install a new pump and pipe.  He also put new wiring in as the old wiring was also 34+ years old.

Donna has water again.

On the left - after I had cut and before I hand removed all of the cut shrubbery.  On the right, the cleared area.

The overall shrubbery that grew up around the well pipe and pump house in the 34 years.

I loaded some of the shrubbery to haul it to my pile of dead branches.

The remaining shrubbery to haul another day.

The well guy's truck.