Deconstruction Day

We started out with a foggy and rainy morning that promises to be wet, rainy, and humid. The mules were out in the south pasture fog just doing there thing until....

Patrick showed up.
 

2 hours later:

One of the huge surprises was that the concrete floor of the garage is not chipped, broken, or heaved.

In fact the trees that grew in there grew from dirt and leaves that had accumulated in piles. So I could have a nice parking spot, I could make it a patio, I could put up a gazebo, or even one of those premade little sheds. 

I always wanted to put up a tiny shed with windows in it for my own private studio. What a great dream that would be. 

Probably too...$$$.

A craft area. But heat and cooling would be an issues. Just tossing ideas out there. 

Maybe even a little outdoor fireplace.

Anything is better than looking at the garbage filled old smashed up garage. 

My husband fought me for 13 years on tearing this building down. But now, I'm happy to say I took the dive to pay for a demo and cleanup. 

I'm sorry Rich, but I had to do it for my own sanity. Almost most everything in there was totally destroyed by years of neglect. Now? Let's rejoice for having some more beauty put back in our land.

10:43 He is cleaning up what he can fit into his truck. 

This will open things up and not make the house feel crowded by an old crushed garage. Filling his truck and taking the trips took more time than the demolition did.
But he got the job done as he said he would. He will return after the dumpster is picked up and do the rest of the work in that area.

The video 6 seconds of an 8 hour job.

He estimated one dumpster would do the trick. The garage had more unusable 'stuff' in it than he thought. He filled the dumpster and had to fill his truck 3 times and take it to the landfill. [Extra costs, I'm sure]

He picked up the metal pieces and delivered them to the Scrapper that had been out here earlier this year.

What next?

Landscaping and seeding along with cleaning up the piles of dirt.

I'll have a nice concrete pad.

I don't know what I'll do next....

I could.....do something like this....

Probably not practical, but it would be cute. Annoying visitors could sleep there too. 

Possibilities. But for now, we continue the clean up.

PS. Blogger is not publishing comments for me at this point in time. 😔

And so this....

Take a good look at this mess. It may well be a memory by this weekend. 

I got a text from Patrick on Monday saying the Dumpster will be delivered on Wednesday. I was momentarily confused as he'd planned the work for much later. He had the time and is getting right with the program. 

Color me very very impressed.

The engine hoist stays, that is how I lift the mower and clean it out. It may be placed in a less conspicuous place.

September 2026

March 2026

Most of the 'stuff' that was piled around the garage has been cleaned up, but there is stuff in the weeds that I can't get to and don't want. Hopefully those small things will get cleaned up also. I am not allowing the scrappers back to search in this building, it is a hazard at this point.

June 2012

The deconstruction and this week's work will keep me from getting out to another Fungi search at least until Sunday. 

Stay tuned! I may set up my trail cam to take a time lapse of the de-construction.

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My Grand daughter will be spending Saturday with me and she is not a forest person at all.

Looks like a busy week for me and no fun fungi marches!

However, I can add to what I did find last Sunday.

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Below is a photo of the end of the bluff where the trail dead ends looking over the Kickapoo River.

Below are some very odd looking mushrooms!

Elfin Saddle or White Saddle and Scientific name:

Helvella Crispa

I almost passed these up because they had such bizarre shapes. I thought perhaps they had been stepped on and deformed. However, saw too many of them to be that.

These beauties below...well maybe not beautiful to

the casual observer...

Amanita Panther 

Poisonous!

I couldn't help but think of Ailie who is an action figure I have. She would chop one of these down and dry it. If you got on her bad side I imagine she'd slip some Amanita Powder in your drink. Be nice. 😋

 I didn't know what this might be until I got out my reference books.

The common name for this beauty is a Cauliflower Mushroom.

I think it could be called a Sparassis americana or spathulata. This is the first time I've found one and spent quite a bit checking it out.

I found so many of these growing, tiny little Boletes beginning to come up all over.

That is the end of my fungi/mushroom tour on the Wintergreen Trail. I can't wait for another trip out along the bluffs of the Kickapoo River.

Busy days ahead.