Korey Atterberry’s Idle Chatter

I know the concept of musicians creating music without the aid of the major labels and the RIAA isn’t new, but I thought I draw a little bit of attention to guy I found by chance recently: Josh Woodward

I like his music, which is a mixture of folk and rock, but I also find his approach to distribution interesting. You can buy his CD’s from his website for $10 each, you can buy his latest album off of iTunes, or you can just download all of it for free. He also encourages you to copy and share his music with your friends without fear of being sued. I haven’t found much music put out by the major studios lately that I enjoyed, so I’d like to encourage those musicians who are taking a different route.

It’s worth noting that Josh is a loyal Fruhead (fan of the band Moxy Fruvous). As a matter of fact, he even runs the site! If you’re a fellow Fruvous fan (like me), take a quick listen to Josh’s work.

On Thursday the delivery guy unloaded 20 cubic yards (about 7 tons) into our front yard. I spent about 20 hours total on Friday and Saturday getting it hauled back to the playset using the new garden cart that Dad bought and Nathan’s two-wheel wheelbarrow (which I have to say is MUCH easier than the single-wheel I’ve been using for years). By the way, a pitchfork worked WAY better than any shovel for moving mulch. Nathan came over and friday and helped for a couple of hours. Neither day got above freezing temperatures, and the winds were rather brisk. Since the mulch was still actively composting, it was almost hot, giving off steam as we dug into the pile.

Here’s the pile in the front yard, with Mom and Dad’s tractor for scale:

Twenty yards was plenty of mulch, so a couple of yards went into our flowerbeds our next-door neighbors used some for theirs as well. I’d say about 15 yards went into the playground, which encompasses an area about 1250 square feet. That provides more than the suggested safety margins around the structure. I put the mulch on very thick in the areas where kids are more likely to fall. We used twelve 8-ft composite recycled landscaping timbers and some spikes to form the boundary between the playground and the yard. By the way, I’m not entirely sure what those timbers are made of, but they dulled my wood/metal drill bit in short order…

We have just a little bit to finish with the landscaping (once I sharpen my drill bit!) See the photo gallery for all the pictures of the landscaping.

Ok, I’ve given up on counting days, but I put in a number of evenings of varying length (including four night under artificial light until 10pm). The playset main tower isn’t entirely complete, but it is now able to be played on. I’m in the process of building the swing beam.

The next step is putting in some mulch underneath the structure, for safety. I’m having 20 cubic yards (15,000 lbs) of mulch delivered. The plan is to enclose the back part of the yard with some landscaping timbers and mulch the entire area, 1250 square feet. That’s going to be a LOT of mulch, but I’m borrowing my parents’ lawn tractor and wagon to help move it from near the road back to the playground area.

I’ve posted a bunch of photos of the semi-completed tower and the swing beam under construction in the
photo gallery. The weather has taken a turn for the worse, but I hope to make some good progress this weekend.