Of Wind in the Willows

Tyche's Minder wanted to know how the willow hedge is doing.  I suppose it is doing OK.  Can you tell?....

There really are some spindly little willow shoots in that mess, which I guess is not bad for just one season.

It was such a strange year.  Right after I planted these in the early Spring, it got very dry.  Then, as soon as summer approached, it got really wet and stayed that way until late July.  I lost about a third of the willows in that early dry spell and the rest all seemed very stunted.  However, the survivors seem to be doing alright now and grew quite a lot once they got started.  They are a long way from being a windbreak yet, but they are capable of putting on a lot of growth in a short amount of time so I am still hopeful for their future. 

I am supposed to prune them back to the ground so that they will come back thicker next year - that is on the to-do list.  I sure hope they do better than this damn stuff...

I am not terribly impressed with the so-called heavy-duty snow fence.  It is better than that awful orange tissue paper they call snow fence these days, but not by much.  I guess I should have shelled out the extra $400 to buy wooden fence since I spent all afternoon wrestling with this flimsy, squishy crap.  I came away feeling rather discouraged and convinced that this plastic mess is the physical embodiment of all the things wrong with our country.  It's a lot like our healthcare system - all propaganda, no substance and impossible to keep straight.

Because Snow Happens

Since my wish for a two-day winter is nothing more than delusional thinking, I've been doing a lot of winterizing lately.  Part of that winterizing, which I have been putting off, is building a lot of snow fence. 

I've tried putting up snow fence in the past with dismal results.  It generally tears apart in the wind or gets overwhelmed by snow and rendered useless.  My trees are growing, but they are still nowhere near big enough.  After the unrelenting misery of last winter, I decided to try the snow fence once again and I spent a small fortune on heavy duty snow-fence, which should be here tomorrow. 

Meanwhile, I needed to get posts set.  This wouldn't ordinarily be a hard job, but I am having terrible trouble with my arms right now thanks to the 14 years I've spent earning my keep in a histology lab.  Not only are my limbs failing, but the stress makes me grind my teeth in my sleep (when I sleep) and I have two cracked fillings that have to get fixed next week.

I had to enlist FB's help with the post pounding since this is definitely not on the doctor-approved list (not much is at the moment, which is making me feel very much the invalid.  I really need a new job).

Once we got the posts in, Tessa came over to demonstrate exactly why I generally only use electric fencing...

No matter what kind of fence you build, whether it's wood, metal, wire, etc; some big, fat, critter will come along and use it as a scratching post unless you put electric up to protect it.  And this is a FAT critter even though I feed her nothing but air and make her work for every bite.

I'm definitely going to have to move the electric wire to protect the snow fence or it won't last a week. 

And speaking of fat critters....It may be time for grazing muzzles on everyone.  That should go over well - I can hear the whining just thinking about it.