All that remains is some trim work and finishing. Going with Trex was the right call. Will look even better with some of Barb’s beautiful flowers and plants. More »

Click here for short video. More on Trex.

“Trex is the giant of the composite decking industry. Founded in 1996 by four executives who bought the rights to a wood-alternative technology from Mobil, it essentially created the entire modern composite deck category. It has evolved quite a bit into a major outdoor living brand.” More » This :14 video illustrates how flexible the material is.

One of Trex’s biggest selling points is its massive recycling footprint. Every standard Trex composite board is made of 95% recycled and reclaimed materials. The recipe is pretty straightforward:

• Recycled Plastic Film: They are one of the largest recyclers of plastic bags, wrap, and packaging film in North America, having diverted billions of pounds of plastic from landfills.
• Reclaimed Wood: They use reclaimed industrial sawdust and wood scrap (like leftovers from cabinet makers and flooring factories) rather than harvesting fresh timber.

Lots of rain has made Barb’s garden lush and beautiful this year.

Not clearing as much brush these days and tend to rely on a big one in the woods behind the Annex. SOP is putting the pickup in 4WD and backing up to the pile. But the truck struggles to hold its position and threatens to roll down the hill. To prevent this I moved an ancient railroad tie into place as a wheel chock. (Note use of tie-down ratchet to get the thing into the truck)

When we built our home ~40 years ago, we had a well drilled which necessitated a pressure tank and lots of pipes in our basement. And a filter that was supposed to be changed every few months (I didn’t always do that). This involved balancing atop a ladder and getting soaked to the elbows. Been doing this unpleasant chore for four decades.

Couple of weeks ago we had a plumber come out to work on the filter and he sent a sample of our water to a lab. A week later the report came back and they found nothing in our water. No need for a filter.

This might be the result of the new well we had drilled last year but who knows. All I know is I’m done with this messy chore.

Living on 10 wooded acres, we have lots of birds flocking to the four or five feeders we have hanging over our deck. Sometime after I retired, I took over the chore of keeping the feeders filled and have come to love watching the birds.

Yesterday, for the first time, this guy showed up. A Sharp-shinned Hawk (Accipiter striatus). Identification rests on several anatomical markers that distinguish it from its near-twin, the Cooper’s Hawk:

• Head Shape: It has a “pin-headed” appearance with a rounded crown. It lacks the prominent supraorbital ridge (the “brow bone”) that gives Cooper’s Hawks a stern, angry expression.
• Tail Structure: The tail is relatively square-tipped with a thin white terminal band. In a Cooper’s Hawk, the tail is typically rounded with a thicker white band.
• Eye Placement: Centered on the side of the head, contributing to the “bug-eyed” look typical of the species.
• Legs: Noticeably spindly, “pencil-thin” yellow legs.

Given the barred rufous chest and dark slate-gray back, this is an adult. These are specialized ambush predators, so if you have bird feeders nearby, its presence is purely tactical.