Author Archives: depolorization

Liquid Amber Bonsai

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With Fall just around the corner, I thought that I would share a few images of my liquid amber bonsai.

I once had a massive liquid amber tree in the front yard. One year, one of its seeds found its way into a pot with only dirt in it. This is what it looked like in Fall 2011. I did absolutely nothing – it was all voluntary.

Keep in mind that a liquid amber tree will grow like mad. If you want to keep it like a bonsai tree, trimming and re-potting will be required.

Here’s the tree in Fall 2012. I had to do a bit of shaping of the branches during the Winter. Fortunately for me, my father was a bonsai enthusiast for more than 35 years, so I picked up a few tips.

This is the tree in Fall 2016. The trunk has gotten bigger and I did transplant it into a new ceramic pot. I will show you how that is done in a future post.

Let’s jump to Spring 2021. The tree was just beginning to really leaf out.

It’s really full with leaves this year, so the Fall colors should be amazing. I am going to have to wait another month to find out.

Here’s the tree later in the Fall – so beautiful!

I always look forward to Fall. For me, it’s the best season of the year!

Rafter Tail Repair

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While doing some touch up house painting, I noticed that one of the rafter tails on the roof had some dry rot. After a bit of inspection, I realized that whoever installed the gutters put a nail in the wrong place. This allowed water to seep in and damage the wood on the rafter over time.

I got a bid to have it repaired and was a little shocked at the cost to do the job. I figured I’d give it a try on my own. I used a screw driver to poke into the damaged wood to determine how much rot was present. It seemed that only about 5″ was damaged.

I got out my tools and cut and chipped away the damaged wood. What was left was all solid wood, and there was no damage to the plywood sheathing.

I cut a 2×4 to match the arc pattern that I had cut in the rafter. I glued and screwed it in place. The following day I caulked the cracks.

Once the caulk hardened, I primed and painted the rafter.

If you look close, you can see that it has been repaired but overall looks great! Well worth my time, and I saved quite a bit of money too. Time for a brew!