Setyembre 12, 2015

Meade rides my mountain bike across 3 stacked loops that have come to exist in our backyard.



The dog barks at 0:15 and every time I replay the video the dog (in real life) barks when he hears it.

Note the 6 well-placed arbor vitae. Those were delivered a few weeks ago...

P1140832

... and left on the terrace. Meade single-handedly moved them to the backyard and planted them. Though the trees with those rootballs were 300 pounds each, he says the hardest part was digging the holes.

46 (na) komento:

Bob Ellison ayon kay ...

It's a good challenge. I'll try bike-riding through the swamp below my house today.

Etienne ayon kay ...

God, we got bag worms everywhere here, and planting more things is like giving money to a vagrant.

Sure looks green though.

Ann Althouse ayon kay ...

@Coupe Meade said: "Do a little research. It's not hard to get rid of bagworms."

Heartless Aztec ayon kay ...

Leveraging large objects is a old man's thinking game. Digging straight down is a laborer's game. It's also why God invented teenagers for $12 an hour under the table.

Meade ayon kay ...

surfed, true. But remember: one teenager is a teenager, two teenagers is half a teenager, and three teenagers is no teenager at all.

Ann Althouse ayon kay ...

And speaking of an old man, you have to be an old man to tell a joke like that.

Heartless Aztec ayon kay ...

Still funny for all that.

Bob ayon kay ...

They look different than Pac NW arbor vitae. Thuja plicata ? Yours look more like our cedar varieties that we actually call cedar.

Drago ayon kay ...

My favorite part? Althouse bucking up her guy with a "pretty good".

Etienne ayon kay ...

Ann Althouse said...Meade said: "Do a little research. It's not hard to get rid of bagworms."

I live out in the county, and to tell the truth, I think I'm the only one concerned :-)

I was driving along I-240 in Eastern OKC, and they line both sides of the highway and kind of glow in the sunset. These are the ones that form a web in the trees. I know the shrub ones don't do that.

The shrub ones I just pick off and burn in my wheelbarrow.

Ann Althouse ayon kay ...

My favorite thing is that there's a full minute of biking on trail within such a small space. It shows that if you have any land at all, you could have a mountain biking trail. And it wouldn't have to be land set aside for mountain biking on your property. It could be a perfectly lovely garden in which no one glancing at it would even see that there's a trail. A nice way to enjoy your garden. It's a walking trail too, of course.

Paul ayon kay ...

I fantasize about putting a rock-boulder garden in my yard to hop around on and some raised planks for practicing balancing on skinnies on my mountain bike, but it would require filling in the pool so it ain't gonna happen. Fortunately I have a 3900' mountain within riding distance, and numerous other great places within an hours drive.

Ann Althouse ayon kay ...

"Thuja occidentalis, also known as white cedar, is an evergreen coniferous tree, in the cypress family Cupressaceae, which is native to eastern Canada and much of the north, central and upper Northeastern United States, but widely cultivated as an ornamental plant. The species was first described by Carolus Linnaeus in 1753, and the binomial name remains current... The name arborvitae is particularly used in the horticultural trade in the United States. It is Latin for "tree of life" - due to the supposed medicinal properties of the sap, bark and twigs. Despite its common names, it does not belong to the cedar genus, nor is it related to the Australian white cedar, Melia azedarach."

Maybe that's no what it is. Meade will say if this is wrong. "White cedar" is easier to say. (Is it "arbor vit-ee" or "arbor vit-uh"?)

Ann Althouse ayon kay ...

Is it "arbor veet-ee" or "arbor veet-uh" or "arbor veye-tee" or "arbor veye-tuh"?

Ann Althouse ayon kay ...

Checking on-line pronunciation guides, I see that there are different ways to say the "arbor" part. I just know how to say the "arbor" in "Ann Arbor," and I never say the potential for complicating it. I'm hearing "ah-bor" and even something close to "ab-or."

Heartless Aztec ayon kay ...

Southern ears (dependeing on location and class status) hear and pronounce the word - either - "arh-ber" or "are-bor". Choose yer' poison.

chickelit ayon kay ...

Note the 6 well-placed arbor vitae...

Indeed. They will grow to block Zeus' owners from seeing what goes on in that backyard.

Deirdre Mundy ayon kay ...

Do you have any "before Meade" pictures of the backyard? I'd love to see the comparison--it looks like he's built a little paradise back there!

chickelit ayon kay ...

Meade single-handedly moved them to the backyard and planted them.

It might have been easier had Meade used both hands. But, I understand the Limbaugh allusion.

Michael ayon kay ...

Ride that trail a lot after a rain and in no time you won't like what is wrought. Mtn. bikes, hikers, horses all at war on the trails.

Etienne ayon kay ...

I looked at google translate, and I think the latin voice is identical to the italian voice, which makes me suspect an error. veet-eye

The German version is the veet-uh" ending, and french is veet-ay, anglais is veyet-ee.

I call them shrubs. I guess a medical student would know the right latin.

It's a conundrum...

chickelit ayon kay ...

I'm working on my backyard too. Today I'm prepping the mold for a 2' x 8' concrete bar stool pad in front of an outdoor bar. Next weekend will see 2 yards of incoming decomposed granite to surround it and the adjacent firepit. We are slowly getting rid of grassy space.

Humperdink ayon kay ...

I have four banana trees sitting outside on the patio in large pots. Each weighs a couple of hundred pounds. Northern Pa winter cause me to bring them in every winter. With no Meade nearby, I use a two a 2 wheel dolly.

pm317 ayon kay ...

I have emerald green arborvitae -- they are just great. Love them. When I got those, I was trying to get those tall ones you see in Tuscany. But I could not find them here.

pm317 ayon kay ...

You seem to have a lot of mature trees already on your property. Where did you plant these?

Heartless Aztec ayon kay ...

I've got a lemon, tangerine and orange tree in mine. tasty stuff but I end up having picking parties where I invite friends and family to bring me beer or wine and they can pick till their heart's content.

Carol ayon kay ...

we have a flat acre and I make XC ski trail on the periphery if there is enough snow. It takes only 3 min for me to go around. My knees tend to hurt from the constant turning...need 10 acres...

Ann Althouse ayon kay ...

The backyard traail is actually too hard for me. Meade makes it look easier than it is.

Drago ayon kay ...

Althouse: "It shows that if you have any land at all, you could have a mountain biking trail."

Isn't that precisely what the dems "densificaton" policies are designed to destroy?

traditionalguy ayon kay ...

Those look like fast growing cedars used in the back yard for a sight buffer. Are the neighbors spying on you for being happy.

Lewis Wetzel ayon kay ...

" . . . 3 stacked loops that have come to exist in our backyard."
Why passive voice?

Big Mike ayon kay ...

Meade single-handedly moved [300 pound trees with rootballs] to the backyard and planted them.

Those wiry guys are generally pretty tough.

le Douanier ayon kay ...

It'd be nice to see a retake where Meade's wheel stand lasts long enough to get (at least the front wheel) on the pavement. I'm sure he can nail it.



averagejoe ayon kay ...

Though the trees with those rootballs were 300 pounds each, he says the hardest part was digging the holes.
posted by Ann Althouse at 10:49 AM on Sep 12, 2015

Because he dug them with his bare hands?

LordSomber ayon kay ...

You let a man wearing shorts onto your property?

sojerofgod ayon kay ...

Arbor Vitae? Don't you mean "Tree"?

Shouting Thomas ayon kay ...

Does the loon wear his hair shirt and do penance for being a white man while he rides his bike?

rhhardin ayon kay ...

Arbor macht frei.

le Douanier ayon kay ...

'You let a man wearing shorts onto your property?'

She wouldn't allow that. Those were summer pants, not shorts.


madAsHell ayon kay ...

Slow news day.

Lewis Wetzel ayon kay ...

Men wearing shorts is just the beginning. People get funny when they get older. Next we'll hear diatribes about men who don't wear spats.
Amazon, BTW, has a nice selection of spats, both buttoned and buttonless: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Dfashion&field-keywords=spats

Curious George ayon kay ...

"Ann Althouse said...
Is it "arbor veet-ee" or "arbor veet-uh" or "arbor veye-tee" or "arbor veye-tuh"?"

Well, in Arbor Vitae, WI it's "Are burr Vi tuh"

Bill ayon kay ...

Those aren't shorts; they're what we used to call clamdiggers.

Wince ayon kay ...

I used to do little tricks for my mother like that...

"Watch mommy, watch!"

MadisonMan ayon kay ...

I like the zinnias out front.

Meade ayon kay ...

Hey thanks, MadMan. Bring your scissors. Cut all you want. We can't keep up. (I humble brag.)

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