Huge... Tracts of Land

I just chopped and sawed almost the entire east side of the lawn clear. It was all above-ground -- I still need to remove some pretty tough stumps -- but it looks astonishing. Lots of space.

I need to watch out using the axe on the stumps, as I managed to get a couple of bounces that stunned my left hand and made my wrist ache alarmingly. It seems like it might be a good way to break your wrist, if you're not careful... one more reason I prefer the mattock, but there are some things the mattock just isn't built for, like large buttress roots halfway above ground. Or splitting the stumps for easier access.

I took out several branches that were leaning forward, including a lot of dead acacia twigs. Frankly, I'd be happy to take out all of the privets, leave one or two acacias (though I'm not sold on that) and plant something better-behaved. Like kudzu.

I've always been fond of New Zealand Tea Tree as a screen -- no suckering, no seeding, grows dense, loves hot weather, and it's lovely when it blooms. And it doesn't droop all over the place like oleander. When it's young it grows more like Italian cypress, actually, straight up. Maybe I can convince my dad to give up at least most of the privet and put in a civilized plant.

There's still the west side, with some pretty formidable trees that will need the chainsaw. I can hack out quite a bit with the saw and loppers, though... I should tell my dad to get the chainsaw running and mark the trees to take out, since I seem to be quickly getting to the point where he has good access to the big ones.

He pointed out that we'll get a stump grinder for the really big acacias, so we can use that on some of the trees I can't easily remove with axe and mattock. So I guess I should concentrate my uprooting efforts on the ones that are 2" in diameter or less.

Anyway, enough rambling -- time to hit the brewery, and then time for homework.