Good morning from again smoked filled So. Central Wisconsin. Yesterday was great as the AQI dropped to 41 yesterday afternoon. Around 8 last night I told Terry I could smell the smoke again but the index was just over 50. This morning well it’s 235 and the 5 minutes I had been outside was 5 too many. So back inside I scurried. I have spent very little time outdoors this week and I’m getting antsy. We are supposed to do our every other year visit to we see the Brewers game against I think the Mets on Tuesday. If the AQI is like this we’ll stay home as Milwaukee air this week has consistently been even worst than ours. We are 79 miles to the Brewer parking lots from our new front door.,
I have too many projects to work on and absolutely no ambition to work on them. Somehow I need to get motivated and like a complete Jack’s backside I agreed to another. Friday I actually talked myself into this one. 175 complete trees by 10/15/2026 for a 2 level blob at the entrance to the layout we’ve been working on the last 21 months. I promised to have my part done and I will but what an idiot I am. The guys in the car on the way home naturally reminded me of it. Terry laughed when I told her and I mentioned she may need to help me. She stopped laughing as she said “ you’re serious”. I texted my 2 good friends aka as the chauffeurs I may need help with the trees in August and both said let them know the days and times. I priced out materials yesterday morning and for the 1st time in maybe forever the modeling supplies are cheaper from Amazon than Michaels, my LHS or Hiawatha Hobbies. It’s by quite a bit like 40% on the wire, but only 10% on fiber cloth. While cheaper for this purchase the overall total still higher than a couple years ago when I last purchased tree materials.
The breakdown is 112 Maples with 35 at 8”, 55 at 6.75” and 22 at 5”. 40 Quaking Aspens (my big nemesis) of which 15 are built from a previous over runaround at 6”. The remaining 25 will be at 7.5”. Finally the birches, both paper and yellow totalling 23. They will be 4.5 to 5.5” split 50/50. I broke down the tree mix based on a 70% hardwoods and 30% softwood mix which will be 60 conifer he purchased before Covid and will re-use. The data came from the US Forest Services wonderful data base for the Negaunee area of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Once I get the supplies and get rolling I should be ok!
These 4 pictures are roughly a 18’ long area on deck #2 that I was the helper to our master landscaper. The cardboard webbing is in
Next up are 2 inspirational pictures, one is a book cover the other is a drone picture Bob or Noah took and posted during a text messaging session we had Friday evening of about 6 of us who have helped build the layout
This is the one below I liked the most. We were looking for fall coloring without super bright colors. This was a drone picture from the Wisconsin & Upper Michigan’s chief dispatcher Noah H, that he posted in the group session. This near Negaunee.
Then of course I fed Ai much of the info from the text messaging sessions and it created this scene that both Bob the owner and John the landscaper loved and it will be used for the inspirational land forms and that I will use as the tree coloring guide to happiness!
The owner was going to expand (widen) the upper deck in this area by 3” that will not interfere with the 1st deck below. Figured he’ll do that by tonight.
Ignore the 1st level as I gave Ai no info so it created its own 1st deck
No I will not start a thread but occasionally will post a picture here.The landforms on both levels will move initially quite fast. The rock cropping will slow things down and planting of the trees will happen in October for deck 2 with land forms and ground cover only on deck 1. This will be fun once I get into it.
Enjoy your day
) and rescheduled to next Sunday.
Going to 82 today. How refreshing! The AC is actually not running at the moment. The smoke is back, air quality is 240 here, purple for those who do the color scale. Too many wildfires around the continent. I get Mother Nature is pissed, but this is getting old. Oh well...there's always the work bench, and I have to move some furniture out of one of the guest rooms. Momma bought new bedroom furniture so if we have company, they can have a comfortable place to sleep. She's also eyeing the second bedroom which happens to be my office. Stand by for heavy rolls, as I won't be easily persuaded to give that up. Life remains interesting! Enjoy your Sunday!
Have a good one!
