New Counter

The yard sale was a complete dud.  Total was $4.  Ah well, the thrift store will probably have better luck.

I couldn't sit and do nothing during the yard sale so I got two things done.  The first was to cut a piece of counter top to go into the mudroom where the freezer used to be.  Despite my brother's dire warnings that counter tops could not be cut at home without making a mess of them, I successful cut a nice neat section and sanded the edges.  Tomorrow I work out adding an extension to the underside so that the grain mill isn't getting caught on the lip.  Most likely I'll put a 1/2 x 4" piece of wood on the underside along the length.  That will let the grain mill grip well without using a major chunk of plywood.  Then I'll work out mounting it to the wall and the floor so it doesn't shift while using the mill.  BTW, the trick to cutting them and not having the laminate shred is to tape on both sides of where you are cutting.  My Dad shared it with me.  It worked wonderfully.  He said use masking tape but I didn't have any so I used Gorilla tape.  That worked very well.  The tape didn't budge even when I accidentally cut into it.

The second thing done was that I got a large chunk of the hedge clipped back.  It gets cut back every year but for some reason it's gone explosive this year.  It's over 4 foot outside of my limits for it.  And it had completely buried the bottom 8 feet of the utility pole.  Between the hedge clippers, loppers, and a tree saw I got about 8 foot of it cleared out before the heat got to be too much.  Lots and lots of dead wood on the underside.  And I'm cutting back further this year in an effort to prevent quite the level of overgrowth.  I think the pruning is part of why it exploded so much this spring.  I've got another 12 feet or so to go that needs to be done soon.  Then another 30 feet that just needs to be done sometime this summer.  That 30 feet runs alongside the shady side of the garage so it's not overgrowing anywhere near as badly.  But it is sending up new shoots.  This hedge is mainly privet but there's a lot of random stuff mixed in.  I would truly love to take the whole thing down - it's over 12 feet tall now - but I don't have the tools to do that effectively.  Especially since there are some nasty big tree stumps hidden in the mess.

It is Memorial Day weekend and I'd like to say Thank You to all who have served in the armed forces acting as defenders for the rest of us.  You do a hard job and don't get anywhere near enough respect, or gratitude, for what you do.  Thank you and may you be protected in your duties. And while Memorial Day is a reminder for those of us who are not part of the armed forces, my gratitude is there every day.

For those who have died defending us - there are no words to convey - not the gratitude for your sacrifice or the sorrow that such a sacrifice had to occur.  Only the prayer that you may be happy and protected in the next life.  And the prayer that maybe, one day, the human race will evolve enough that another will not need to make that sacrifice.

Blessings.