Well, I now know what has been ailing the chickens' shade tree

While I was clearing the dog-run-turned-chicken-pasture, I discovered a blue tarp underneath a pile of leaves. So, today, I decided to unearth it. Oh My Word!!! (If you look closely in this picture, you can see a tiny bit of blue in the leaves.)

Turns out it was the pool cover the previous owners had ditched back there. It had been abandoned so long that a foot of leaves and dirt had piled on top. It took every bit of strength I have to rake it out from all that dirt and pull and drag that thing to the front of the yard for the trash. I actually had to work at it in stages - a little bit, then rest for a while; a little bit, then rest for a while. And, to make it worse, I did this on a day it was over 100 degrees.

But, the shade tree, that has been looking quite ill, should now be able to breathe. I'll bet that pool cover was suffocating its roots.

Now, a new test was to come for the trash people. Would they take the pool cover? I bundled it up tightly with string, but it was still a ball that had a diameter of 4 or 5 feet. I hoped the string would encourage them. It would keep it together enough that they could lift it.

That worked! They took the pool cover. Yippee!