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We stopped in the local nursery a couple weeks ago looking for a couple trees and a rose or two, but they hadn't gotten too much in yet. They had stuff, just not what we were looking for. "We have a lot coming in soon, stop back in." We have been good customers over the years, so he was pretty sure we'd be back. Tina went back yesterday. They had gotten in a lot.


She was looking for a specific type of tree to shade the front porch, and one for the west end of the house to shade the AC unit and the generator. She found Emperor Red Japanese Maples. She wanted four, one for the west end of the house and three across the front yard. They had two. They said they'd check with the other store and get back to her, or call her if any more came in, but the Emperor variation is hard to come by. Those are resistant to burning under the hot sun.

This one is in the front yard, yes, it's heavily staked for now. Those Winds were Whippin' Down the Plain.


This is the one at the west end of the house. The trees don't get too big yet will provide the needed shade.


The rose added to the front flower bed. The cheap home depot yellows died. This one will do for now.
The rest of the roses in the bed are red and doing fine, the bed has an assortment of flowers and colors.


We like to make the house look nice, but she isn't going all out like she did in Virginia... too old to work that hard these days. LOL. Back then, a much younger Miss T spent a LOT of time working in the yard when the kids were at school and it showed.

The silver maple you see to the far left of the last picture was ordered from a catalog. It came in the mail as a stick about 18" long and as thick as a #2 pencil. We planted it beside that sidewalk, and it grew as you see. However, the bugs eventually worked with the woodpeckers and killed it. It had to come down or it would have fallen on the porch or the carport.

When I started to cut it up for firewood, I noticed the bug's work had spalted the wood and I put it aside to cure, then ran it thru my bandsaw mill. It eventually became presentation boxes, handgun grips, and knife scales you have seen here on the forum... the bugs work insure the tree was as beautiful in death as it had been in life.

More in bloom there, than here.
Roses look they are doing well. I remember when they were planted.

BrokenolMarine wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 03, 2026 3:56 pm

The silver maple you see to the far left of the last picture was ordered from a catalog. It came in the mail as a stick about 18" long and as thick as a #2 pencil. We planted it beside that sidewalk, and it grew as you see. However, the bugs eventually worked with the woodpeckers and killed it. It had to come down or it would have fallen on the porch or the carport.

When I started to cut it up for firewood, I noticed the bug's work had spalted the wood and I put it aside to cure, then ran it thru my bandsaw mill. It eventually became presentation boxes, handgun grips, and knife scales you have seen here on the forum... the bugs work insure the tree was as beautiful in death as it had been in life.

I think Life and Death may be the same thing. Yin Yang. It's the bugs and birds and a host of other things, including you, that made that silver maple tree into something beautiful after its death; something other than firewood.

Nice work.

Looks beautiful. Still winter here.

looking good!
Spring has definitely sprung here. The azaleas are in full bloom as well as the dogwoods.

Spring here is a blizzard!

Beautiful pics BOM. That pic of the VA home shows a lot of work on Tina and your part. Like you guys, I find I’m starting to slow down but still get done what needs to be done. I have two small but physically demanding projects this year I’m not looking forward to. One involves gravel and the other involves dirt. Both behind the fence so a shovel and wheelbarrow is going to be involved.

Nothing blooming here but the buds are starting to show.

Thanks Hatch, I feel your pain. I can't do shovel work. Thus, the tractor with a bucket. Tina can, and enjoys it. But, slower than when we met more than thirty years ago, and doesn't last as long. Major shovel work calls for a farm kid needing cash.