Sunday, November 30, 2008

Picking Fruit

The boys have been known to be "fruit pickers."

I've got this Asian pear (sp?)


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Saturday, November 29, 2008

Scary "Starfish"

Uschi was happily sitting, watching his yard.

When "something" startled him.

Oh, No,... what is that?,...

A giant terrestrial starfish?

Are you kidding,...

"Come on Uschi, it is just me,... mom."

Is it really you?

Hiiiiii,...

Just checking to be sure.


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Friday, November 28, 2008

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Transplanting

Late fall, winter, and early spring are good times for
us to plant and transplant trees because our winter rains help
to establish the trees. In recent years I have moved some
pretty good sized trees to "better" places.

There was this ~8' tall sequoia that was growing too
close to the boys favorite large eucalyptus, eventually it was going
to over grow the area, so I decided to try to transplant it. I spent
a few days digging out a giant 5' wide by 2' deep root ball.

U & V found my handy work,...

V shot into the hole and ran around under the ball.

This caught U's attention.

The two

had a ball

chasing

each other around the hole.

U got Uber excited,...

Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle,...

"Matrix Uschi"

U took a page out of Tanji's play book
and ran on the vertical edge of the hole wall.

this caught V by surprise.

All of the play brought Tanji by to take a look,...

"Hey guys there's a big hole here,...
we should fill it in,..."

Okay, now a root ball of this size is HEAVY,...

I wrapped the root ball, dug a nice gradual "entrance"
slope, put a piece of plywood on the slope and
attached a 1.5Ton come along,...

The ball didn't move,...

My "Grizzly-Method" didn't work,...
more thinking/plotting required.

If the ball is 5' in diameter and 2' deep
and moist dirt weights 125lbs/ft³,
then
the root ball weighs around 2.5 tons.

( π r² * d) * 125lbs
[(3.14*2.5² ) *2] * 125lbs = 4,900+lbs (2.5tons)

Ah Haaaa !!!
That is why I couldn't simply drag it out of the hole and
lift it into my little Elec-Trak trailer.

Time to
call in the big guns!!!

An 8000lb lift capacity 4x4 forklift.

I drove the fork lift right in, lifted the tree
and backed out like it was nothing!!!

In place on the East side of the property.

Looking good.

Good job dad !!!

YEAH!!!!


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Wednesday, November 26, 2008

The Grass Is Greener,...

Vladi loves to climb the SW corner fence post.

Proud of himself surveying the neighbors grass-seed field.

Nice balancing.

Interesting how using the flash changes the exposure,...

Lighting the foreground while
under exposing the background.

Wag, Wag, Wag.


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Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Kneading Lesley

Vladi has taken to kneading (making biscuits) on Lesley.

He does this to wake her up every morning,...

and sometimes on the couch.

knead, knead, knead,...

He loses himself,
chirping and kicking his back feet,
all the while his front feet knead away.

A quick break to sniff the remote,...

Handsome Vladi isn't sure what is going on,
"I feel funny,..."

Back to it,...

FYI - Vladi is pretty small, the perspective
on these pictures make him look large.


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Monday, November 24, 2008

Tanji's Tissue Paper (Part II)

Yesterday's post left off with Tanji guarding his new
favorite toy: Bengal tissue paper.

But all that playing was attracting attention...

Its BIG Uschi.

Usch has been steadily gaining weight since his
"bad belly" attacks earlier this summer.

A little bit of staring and body language,
and Uschi takes over the paper.

This is awesome!

Did I hear something?

Vladi is on his way...

Did you want to lick me instead?
(Vladi is definitely not shy seeking out attention)

No lickies? Well, I'm out of here!

Uschi is large and in charge.
(Or at least he thinks he is)

Meanwhile, Tanji has been sitting nearby,
waiting to get his tissue paper back.

Play with me instead!

Uschi tries to resist...

So Tanji starts patting U on the face.

Attack!

Uschi is having so much fun,
he leaves the tissue paper behind....

which T quickly reclaimed.

The lesson?
Don't mess with Tanji.


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