Spring chores

 "Anger and the sorrow that it produces are far more harmful than the things which make us angry" - Marcus Aurelius

It's getting that time again.  Once things start to warm up, there is limited time to accomplish the spring chores.  Today I spotted the first wasp  - or yellowjacket - it was too far away to tell which.  

The first ones that emerge are the queens, so that's probably what I saw today.  I keep a dozen wasp bait packs on hand so that I can put out the traps without having to make a run to town for them.

I baited, re-assembled and hung 10 traps before going to work.

This of course means that it's time to remove the plow from the truck, get the sandbags out, switch to summer tires, put away the snow shovels, and do some spring burns.  Yeah right.  With all the free time I have.  Sigh.  I'll get it done eventually.

I've also got a really good electronics installer coming to do a permanent installation for the Starlink system.  When he is done, the Starlink will be hard-wired into the house LAN, so that all the internet jacks connect directly.  Right now we are temporarily using the Starlink WiFi router, which is quite a bit slower than being hard-wired to it.

I've had a call in to one of the local tree service companies for several months.  They've been backlogged with emergency work due to the major wind storms in September and again in January.  They finally got out to the house and gave us an estimate to remove several large trees that I'm not comfortable with.  I hate removing big trees, because they are awesome, old and beautiful.  However safety is more important than aesthetics.  I am concerned about fire and structural damage caused trees being knocked down by wind.

Of the trees that need to go, one is close to the shop, and leaning towards it.   Several others are large Ponderosa pines that are upwind of the house and could hit it if they topple.  A couple others are big fir trees that could catch the house on fire, fall on the well pump, or hit the electric box.  The remaining smaller trees I can deal with myself, and they won't do any damage if they don't fall how I want them to.

All of the trees that are on the left side in the second image will soon be gone, and that area will be field grass.