Wednesday, May 21, 2008

FREE WOOD CHIPS


We got em.



The friendly folks at Birchwood Tree Service just dropped off what my eldest described as a "metric f*ck-ton" of wood chips. I called and ordered them on Monday, and here they are.

Now I know that Thursday morning will involve shovels and wheelbarrows, and eventually a tidier-looking back yard. The de-whitetrashification continues.

As an added bonus, we all get to hone our tactical driving skills as we pull in and out of the driveway. Good times!

14 comments:

justacoolcat said...

That looks like a big pile of work, but it'll be worth it when you're finished.

Johnny Yen said...

About ten years ago, my son's preschool, which was at the now-gone New City YMCA, solicited volunteers to help build a new playground. The main chore, it seemed, was moving a mountain of woodchips to the new playground. Of course, they had not one wheelbarrow available for the task; they issued about a dozen of us tarps, which other volunteers, who, thank god, had shovels, piled wood chips upon and we dragged them around the building to where they were needed. It was not one of my funner afternoons.

Unknown said...

You took back to our days in Des Plaines. The City would deliver the chips and dump them just like in your picture. When we first moved there our back yard had great grass but after 3 kids it was mud so wood chips solved that problem. I wish I could get free chips here.

Barbara Bruederlin said...

Of course the eldest could have saved time and effort by simply calling the "metric f**k-ton" a "f**k-tonne",but that doesn't have quite the same cadence.

Joe said...

Barbara, and she could have said it was oot in the front yard.

Mathman, check with your tree services. We don't get the ones from the village any more because they tend to have too much green matter in them. The first year we got them we were gone for a few days camping when they arrived. They were composting fiercely and starting to smoke when we got home.


Johnny, that sounds suck-tacular. My biggest challenge now is building a fairly stable ramp off my back porch steps.

Coolcat, you're right. It's amazing how much greener the grass looks, and how much more finished the yard looks when it's done.

Fran said...

Where is the dip?

OH! Not those kind of chips.

You foil me frequently Bubs, you do!

Dr. Monkey Von Monkerstein said...

Mmmmmmm, wood chips.

Anonymous said...

Dang! Mathman beat me to it!

Oh, well. Happy shoveling. It will look lovely, I'm sure!

Writeprocrastinator said...

Better "wood" than "cow."

I love it not just because you are helping the enviorment, but because I just know you have some anal retentive neighbor that is going out of his gourd, with that pile sitting there.

lulu said...

Having backed out of your driveway before, I can safely say that you really don't need any added hazards.

I am a fan of the Blommer Chocolate Factory cacao shells that you can buy for your yard. They a a beautiful dark brown and smell like candy when it rains! Yummy. (although you DO have to pay for them, which isn't as good as free)

bubbles said...

OMG, I had forgotten about mulch season. Yuck!! Talk about a thankless job!

I have a little mulch around here - but mostly rocks. Like lulu, I love the cocoa mulch. I get it in bags. Expensive bags. (but few)

bubbles said...

Oh, and the green looks soooo nice. I forgot about that, too!

Joe said...

Bubbles, I wondered what you meant and then I realized that you don't have a lot of green in your landscaping.

Bubbles and Lulu--the cocoa shells are fantastic, you're right. We used them a few years ago in a small bed, and they did smell wonderful. I wish I had money to use them for a big area.

WP, I think that there's an old guy across the street that doesn't approve, but I'm not sure. I just think so. Heh heh.

dcup, what happened to the glyph? I have to say dcup is easier to type. Yes, hopefully it will look lovely. I'm looking forward to shoveling all day, cleaning up and then taking the girls to see Katie Schwartz read tonight.

SkylersDad said...

We don't have chips, we have "decorative rock"...

It's a requirement of the home owners nazis (excuse me, association) around here.

Nothing better than the sound of a stone being caught by the mower and thrown at over 150MPH across the street.