The mystery is solved!

My follower in France left a comment on yesterday's post; here's what she had to say:

Hello - yes, I am your follower in France, actually the satellite does not quite 'pinpoint' me correctly - I live in St Romain sur Cher which is in Centre. However, I am English and found your site via another English blogger that I follow. I really enjoy your daily updates on life in the countryside in USA - We also live in the country surrounded by farmland and animals. Now your mystery is solved and you know who I am. I will try to comment from time to time and will continue to follow your blog.Regards Carol

Carol, don't feel under an obligation to comment.  Compared to how many people read this drivel, it's only a small percentage who comment.  I do thank you, though, for satisfying my curiosity!  I think it's fantastic that we country folks can find common interests even though we are widely separated by geography.

Speaking of comments, here's one my friend Ora left this morning on Facebook concerning this picture of our guests:  "Is that your little "cabin house" in the background....and those tall trees....are they those pitiful looking little twigs you planted some years ago....?????? wow...I need to plant some like that...what are they called???? hugs all day....and that Pat and Celeste...awesome couple for sure!!!"

Yes Ora, that is my former cabin; perhaps you missed the entry I made about us moving it up here because I never used it any more.  And yes, the trees you speak of are the Lombardy Poplars we planted a short three years ago.  You need to know a few things about them before you plant them, though.  They don't live long, so I imagine in another three years they will start dying at the top.  We knew this when we planted them, but we wanted something temporary until the Norway Spruce got a good start.  In fact, Cliff will probably take them out this winter.  Another thing you need to know is that they send roots far out into your yard and sprouts will start growing.  Here in the country, we had to make sure and put the trees far away from our septic tank and lines, because there can be a problem with that, too.  

We put those trees there to get some privacy from the (ahem) people who lived there; the trees also made a convenient blind where I could hide and watch some of the crazy carryings-on over there.  Yes, I'm that nosy neighbor whose curiosity is aroused when the cops descend on a house next door.  Now the house is deserted, and if I understand things right, it will have to stay deserted for a year before anybody else can buy it from the bank.  The house on the other side of our place is similarly deserted.  One thing about it, the neighborhood is much quieter these days.  

trees

I was so proud of my Lombardy poplars in the fall of 2008.  In a few short months they had grown from twigs to trees.  Those weeds in the background are part of the reason I wanted the neighbor's place hidden; that, and I wanted a little privacy.  

You can see that those babies are now doing the job, after only two years.  The trouble is, Lombardy Poplars don't live long.  Also, they send out shoots everywhere, so you have little trees sprouting where you don't want them.  Because of the way they spread, you must make sure they aren't too close to the septic lines; we did that.  
I had a plan:  I'd plant Norway Spruce trees on the east side of the poplars; once those got a good start, we'd remove the poplars.  

See near the base of the first poplar, on the left?  I know it looks tiny, but it's actually about three feet tall.  

This shows you the row of spruce; some don't show up too well because we had a slight problem.  Four of them died, and this year I replaced the dead ones with new baby spruce trees.  

Like this one; isn't he cute?  

A couple of them got mowed the first year.  So they suffered a setback.  

Here's the other one.  


I have a problem: In order for the spruce trees to make it, we're going to have to remove the poplar trees this year because, obviously, as close as they are, they'll smother or crowd out the little trees.  At this point I wish I had not gotten the Norway Spruce trees; the poplars are doing such an excellent job.  They don't have a long life span, but we could have planted more when they began to die.  
But because of money invested in the Norway Spruce trees, I refuse to sacrifice them.  
My only hope is that I will live long enough to see the spruce trees doing their job.