mulching of the trees

Way back early in the spring I had a very large job to tackle, mulching all(96) of the willow oaks that line the drive lane on the property. I was not looking forward to doing this for two years in a row with some extra excavating on each tree's root collar this year. Sometimes the greater force delivers and this time was one...a friend Benjamin from Sherman Chiropractic College(a recent graduate) stopped by and spent some time earning some $ and helped me with the trees. Thank you Ben.


This is what we started with, some weeds and dirt covering the 'shoulders' of the trees which "should be exposed" per Mark our personal arborist. Exposed means to dig with a hand rake and garden shovel (hand shovel) 1-5 inches into the root ball to expose the shoulders. Rake the mulch out to expand the mulched area and add additional mulch to finish new larger diameter mulched ring. And to finish spray round-up on all of the fresh mulch being careful not to spray base of freshly transplanted willow-oak trees.Here's Dr. Ben Claussen hard at it, notice the knee pads, lots of time on our knees digging.Using my trailer and the tractor to haul the mulch.Mollie and Lil' E in front of the finished product.

Hot fun in the summer sun

R&D sharing another boat ride in the sun.
The
Our new neighbor(only a 30 min drive instead of 90 mins) and Wednesday Evening Dinner's inaugural host.
The Captain of the boat.(?)
BLEW BY U (some of the local weekend crabbers)
Perfect dive form with the kindergartner.
The water was very warm, almost too warm. I had to take the plunge 3 times at our second stop.

Derek cools down in the Choptank River.

"little man"

The first 5 months of Easton's life as "our" dog, in the words of 'E' himself...

Here I am with some of my new friends Mora and Sandy(and their parents R & D) and my big sister Mollie and my dad. And see how good of a dog I am, I'm the only one that gets to walk off leash.

Here I am taking my Papa and Mom and big sis for a rainy day walk, "come on everyone, home is this way."There's my beautiful mom and her dad.(my papa)
Here I am showing Mollie who the boss is gonna be. She is but a shadow of me.
My big sis is always so serious and ready to 'go' at the drop of a paw, she should mellow out and enjoy the flowers a little. She's a lot of fun once you get to know her, don't let her bark scare you.
There she is in her favorite position, sun bathing/ sleeping.
Here's my mommy again, helping me to enjoy a pool party.

And my Oma at the same pool party, she treats me real good too, a lot like my mommy.Here's my mom gettin' a little wild at the same party, don't ever let her tell ya she's shy.You guessed it, belly flop contestant #4, my mom. (She had better form than my dad's belly flops)
Here's one of my cute friends I've met this summer at Bocce Friday's, I just love her curly hair and the way she feeds me good food.

Here I am trying to get Mollie to get a little lively, she just wants to be calm and swim or dig for rocks while I think we should jump on each other and bite each other and put our heads under water for multiple seconds.(my dad has counted 7 seconds with my head underwater)
Here I am swimming in the mucky pond early in the spring. I'm actually going for a frog here but I'm not sure if mom got it in this photo, sometimes I'm to fast for photos.
Comin' at cha'. I'm running down the dock here with my dad in the background. This is where we go for our swim outings. I still haven't gotten a ride in the boats...dad says it gets hair everywhere or something like that.
Here I am playing a good game of 'tug' with my sis. This game upsets my dad because we don't bring the stick back to him. I say..."if he needs it, he should come and get it"
Here I am running (probably for home) like a big dog. I think I like running(especially chasing rabbits or deer) as much as I do swimming.
Here's another of my sister and me swimming, actually were waiting for dad to throw the stick but you know what I mean.
Here's my pretty mom blowing bubbles for us making everyone smile, well except for Mollie, she had to get a little frumpy as usual but she was having fun by the end. My mom has the cutest smile.
I'm not sure what these 'bubbles' are but they sure were fun.
Here my dad, my sis and me when I was real little coming home from one of my first walks here at this farm place.

I liked tennis balls from the beginning.
And digging, I love to dig and Mollie is good at teaching me the intricacies of this wonderful art. Once again, my dad doesn't like this game we play, so you have to do it when he's not around and work fast.
Here my mom was being silly and making puppy prints. I was just shaking my head wondering what I had gotten' into and hoping she works fast.
I wore the big girl out, she can't keep up with me. Were pretty cute huh?(we like/LOVE beef marrow bones if you were wondering)

Here we are at the beach, where the water tastes funny. Mollie got sick(both ends) from drinking the beach water.(more like gulping)(sometimes I tell her to act her age)(no one ever said she was the smart one in our family)
Here I am hiding under the couch in the first couple months, I soon out grew this groovy spot and can no longer shimmy under the living room furniture.
Here I am working my sister over and letting her know who the boss is going to be.
Here I am taking my mom and her sister/my aunt Sarah and her daughter/my cousin Maggie and my sister Mollie for a walk.
Here I am caught mid stride running through the butter cups.(I look real fast)
Mollie always has to get sassy and sound like were fighting, which always ends the fun cause dad doesn't like the noise or the tone in her voice.(sometimes dad's not much fun)
Here's my cute cousin Maggie, she was pretty fun but still a little to small to play with me.
Here's my mom reminding us why my daddy wanted to kiss on her forever. And my sister 'posing' for the camera.
Hello, my name is Easton and I'm going to be living here.
Here's my neighbor Midnight. We can play together alright but Mollie always has to get in the middle and Midnight doesn't like when she does that so he doesn't hang out much since I've been around. What can I say, I like to have a good time.
Here's my cute family, and me liking my mom, she tastes good.
Here I am looking cute as ever asleep in the horse barn. I'm probably about 10 weeks old and I've already discovered the wonders of living with horses.
And here I am, wet from swimming in my favorite creek.(Dixon)