Pics from the office window -- Episode 2

In January, I did a post here about pictures I took through the window of my upstairs office at home. It wasn't anything exceptional, really. And I wasn't expecting there'd be reason to return to that concept or add to it very often.

But I've learned that things like that can change quickly, as has been the case since January. One change is that I've had three trees removed -- a dead one perilously close to the garage, and two that would impede the sun's access to the garage roof, where we are going to install solar panels in the next month or so.

On Easter weekend, we put up a swing set for the benefit of grandchildren when they visit, and just this week we had our roof replaced. The latter was fortuitous; the original tiles were on the house when we bought it last July. The house was built in 1993, and there was evidence of repair when we looked at it and had it inspected. So one of the things we tried to negotiate with the owners was to replace it before we bought it.

They wouldn't do that, but they did buy a 10-year roof warranty. Everything else about the house was dreamy, so ... we went along with it. In September, there was a hail storm, and this spring, we decided to check the roof more closely to see if there was sufficient hail damage that our insurance company would pay for a replacement. There was, and the insurer did pay for it. So we lucked out.

The photo leading off the post shows the new roof -- on the detached garage in the background (where the solar panels will go), and over our sun room in the foreground. Roofers were still here today, finishing their work, which is why  you see some tile pieces on the foreground portion.

That photo also shows a tip of the playground in the middle, and while the removed trees are actually in this view, you can't tell because it's too far away.

There will be a reason to do another post in this series once the solar panels are installed. At this time of year, we have prime sunshine on the garage roof from about 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. After that, other trees start dropping shade on it. We'll be watching it regularly to see if things get better in the summer ... and/or if we have to eliminate any more trees (which I really hate to do).

As always, to view a larger version of an image, simply click on the image. This is particularly helpful for visitors accessing the blog using a mobile device.

You can see stumps from two of the removed trees in the photo above. The smaller one on the left was the dead tree. The much larger one on the right was difficult to let go of because it was huge. But in addition to blocking sunlight from reaching the solar panels, it was even closer to the garage than the smaller one. So we feel we eliminated another possible damage risk down the road. You can see a section of the new swing set in the foreground. The photo below is the most I can see of the swing set from the office window right now. The third removed tree was behind and to the left of the swing set. The tree removers ground the stump to be a little below ground level so kids wouldn't have a stump to have to maneuver around when using the swing. In the bottom left corner of the photo below, you can see a little bit of the mulch left behind by the grinding of that tree stump. 

Above: Packages of roofing tiles in the driveway the morning that roofers began their work this week.

Above: I mentioned in a separate previous post that one of the joys of the new home is finding spring flowering trees in the yard. We encountered a magnolia tree (tulip tree) in February, and now we're enjoying four flowering dogwoods sprinkled in different places. This one is in a place that I can see from the office window. 

Above: Another spring ritual is conifers dropping their seed, and because we have a lot of pines in the vicinity, there is a ton of these all over the yards, walks and driveway. In addition to seed, the pines release tons of pine pollen, which is easily spotted because it is bright green. I'm allergic to pollen, so I'm back to taking allergy medicine after going years without having to do so in my latter years in Indianapolis.

Above: If you saw the first office window post, you remember this chair in the neighbor's yard. In January, there was snow on the ground, so this is a little different. In the right foreground are roof tiles from a shed in the neighbor's yard.