an ordinary Sunset

[Tom King]

As the Sun gets lower in the sky heading towards Winter, it will soon be back in sight at Sunset.  We see the difference every day.  Right now, it's still setting behind the tree line up the lake.  Our Sunsets across the lake get better pretty soon.

The grass on the point is trying, but the ground is so poor that I'm going to have to topdress the whole thing will a little bit of good topsoil before we will have a lush lawn.

All the hardwood trees that I left, and pruned to open up the view, are thriving.  I just need to come up with an easy way to knock all the suckers off.  I'm thinking I need a sharp knife blade on a long carbon fiber pole.  I can use a windsurfing mast, if I can't do any better.

 

[wtnhighlander]

That view is going to be really awesome as the sunset travels across!

Tom, have had the soil anylized? Could be it just needs an application of lime, or some other specific nutrient. Grass can thrive in all sorts of soil if the right nutrients are present.

[RichardA]

Lime is an excellent neutrilizer for soil.  It brings most soils back to around a 7.0 Ph, and there's not much in plants that don't thrive in a 7.0 Ph. On a space like that, I'd top dress it completely just before a rain, That way you don't need to used treated water.  Mama Nature does know how to do the job.

[Tom King]

I put lime down to start with.  You can put a ton of lime per acre every year here.

The main trouble is the ground is so hard, and not really flat anywhere.  Water just runs off right now.  In getting out all the Pine trees, Sweet Gums, and other trees to open it up, when leveling the ground back out, we lost a lot of the topsoil.

I don't want to break it up again, because it's full of small rocks.  I hand raked the whole thing about an inch deep, so surface rocks are not a problem now. 

I think the simplest thing is to top dress it.  I have decades of piles of old, composted horse manure.  The plan is to mix that with a couple of truckloads of sand, and use that mixture for top dressing.  I did some experimental spots, and they couldn't be better.  Really don't want to put a lot of chemical fertilizer on it, being right here at the lake, and being sure a lot of it would just run in the water.  There are many that do that, but I don't want to be one of them.

We're probably going to put in a sprinkler system, but I'd like to get the grass, and ground level established first.  The water will just be pumped out of the lake.

[curlyoak]

What a view! Nice place to live. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Fiskars-PowerLever-1-1-8-in-Cut-Capacity-Steel-Saw-Blade-15-in-Fiberglass-Pole-14-ft-Tree-Pruner-393981-1002/300412758 Would this help you? This is used around here a lot especially for high up palm fronds and coconuts. Add a 10' ladder for the high ones.

[Tom King]

Thanks, but I have all sorts of pro tree work stuff.  I was thinking about something really lightweight, with a sharp knife blade.  The saws work really good, but the suckers are so small, and tender that a sharp blade would slice them right off, and be multiple times faster than handling those types of poles.  I have the trees limbed up to 25 feet high on the larger trees.  The suckers are just new growth.  

Here's a view of the whole point.  It's about 2 acres with something over 1200 feet of shoreline.

I haven't limbed up the trees on the hill yet, but plan to open up that view this Winter.  I've mainly been working on the point.

 

[Coop]

Set some extra plates! We need to have a party! 

[pkinneb]

1 hour ago, Coop said:

Set some extra plates! We need to have a party! 

I agree

[curlyoak]

Heavenly...

[Tom King]

Maybe next season.  That house can sleep 16, plus we'll have some RV hookups.  I was planning on starting on a boat house, and dock this Fall, but lumber prices are so high, I'll wait a while. 

We were hoping to get some income from that house by renting it this past Summer, but the virus took that out.  We just didn't want to deal with groups.  It wouldn't have been ready anyway.  Hopefully, it'll be ready next year.

[Chestnut]

I haven't looked at softwood prices in a long time. I just now looked and realized that I can get 4/4 hardwood cheaper than 2x4 pine. $6 a stud converts out to almost $1.5/BF. Dang that's expensive.

[legenddc]

Construction/deck lumber prices are through the roof. 

Tom when you're ready to rent please let me know. We need a new spot for next year assuming things calm down with COVID.

[Tom King]

I called my favorite building supplier, before I realized things had gone crazy with materials, to order a bundle of no.1 decking boards.  I was intending to sticker them, so they could dry out some before I needed them, for the dock.  He told me they couldn't even get them, and if they could, I wouldn't want to pay the price.  I forget what the price was, if I could get the bundle, but he was right about the price.

[Mark J]

So what's the reason for the high cost?  Reduced supply or increased demand?

[wtnhighlander]

Could be reduced supply due to labor shortages. The plant where I work is operating with bare minimum labor, as CDC guidelines are requiring so many to quarantine if exposed to someone with covid, even if the person themself never has symptoms. 

[legenddc]

Probably was partially a labor shortage but the demand also spiked. With everyone at home, cramped and staring out at their backyard decided to redo their decks. Throw in people saving money not commuting to work, stimulus money, tax refund time, daycare if you had kids etc. and some people had a lot more disposable income.

We luckily got ours built in April and the lumber supplier was offering a discount. My nextdoor neighbor did his deck in June/July and couldn't get boards. Ended up having to put 2x8s down, not normal deck top boards.

Good time to start a pressure washing and staining business. Speaking of which, I need to go do some research on deck sealer and find a good week to do it.

Edited September 16, 2020 by legenddc
clarified one point.

[Tom King]

I couldn't remember when I first posted this thread, but already, the Sun is setting about 30 degrees along the horizon different than it was then.  It drops below the horizon straight off the end of the point now.   I thought it might be a spectacular one this evening, but it turned out to be pretty standard.

 

[Tom King]

Rather than start another thread, I'll just add to this one.  Last night, Oct. 4th, was a good one.

It was disappointing that my phone couldn't catch it better but I didn't have the good camera with us.  The first picture the Sun and reflection on the lake was so bright that you could feel the heat from it and couldn't look directly at it.  The area in the foreground was still very light and even with the exposure turned all the way down, it just couldn't catch it.  It got better some as it went lower, but still had some trouble.

It was much more spectacular than these pictures, but they will give you an idea.

After the Sun set below the horizon it was still illuminating the tops of the clouds and there were enough holes in the clouds that it reflected off the pretty still water with bright orange and purple for a good while.

 

 

[Tom King]

[Mark J]

Sounds, and looks, spectacular.  

[wtnhighlander]

That is a really beautiful spot, Tom!

[Tom King]

That's in front of the rental house.  We really don't spend much time at that house and don't go over there at all when it's rented out.  We were over there to take those pictures because Pam's Sister and her husband are staying there for a while.  BIL is helping me change out old fogged up window glass in about a half dozen sash.  He helps me fairly often when I need an extra hand.  We were eating Dinner on the porch.  It's only a couple of hundred yards from our house.