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| Back yard magnolia |
The first couple of weeks involved the attempted removal of a few trees that were dead, dying, diseased or taking over the yard to the point of interfering with our plumbing and other underground conveniences. Hubby and I decided to start with the easiest trees- the smaller ones. He explains to me that he will tie one end of a rope to a top limb of the tree and I am to hold onto the other end. As he begins cutting with the chain saw, I am to pull as hard as I can (in MY direction) so that the tree will fall the right way. Oh yeah. That sounded like a blast. (Let's just call this 'red flag number 1'). Since hubby could not find the rope he needed, he decides to use an old, very long extension cord (as he says, "It you're ever in an airplane that's going down just throw an extension cord out and hang on. That sucker'll hang up on something." Great, but I'm not on an airplane here so let's call this 'red flag number 2'). The first tree came down just right but only after it nearly pulled me off my feet. The second one came down much smoother but not without a bit of concern (ok, it was outright fear) on my part. By the time he was ready to take down another one, our friend from down the street arrived on the scene to help. I had had enough of holding the extension cord and "just pull with all you've got." It was great that D came to help but this led to another 'situation.' Two men, two chainsaws, and a large magnolia that needed to come down. (Let's call this 'red flag number 3). It was like having TIM THE TOOL MAN TAYLOR times 2 in the backyard. It was at this point that I went into the house.
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| Hot squirrel on limb stump |
The magnolia tree is still standing although many of the lower branches are gone (the oak and magnolia in the front are only missing a few branches as well). Although I have suggested calling our friend E to come over since he DOES own a TREE SERVICE COMPANY, Tim 1 and Tim 2 are still insisting that they are quite capable of handling the tree situation on their own. I may be out of town until further notice...
I recently found your blog and have enjoyed it. My husband and I are also recently empty nesters and I so relate to your life thus far. A month ago, we, too went and got a puppy. Why do we feel the need to do this? LOL..housetraining has not been as easy as it should be and we are still struggling with that! Our yard..it's a sad mess, too. I now look at it with sadness because our yard had provided such wonderful, family fun and learning experiences, picnics, camping, swimming, birthday parties, and now, nothing. One can almost hear the silence out there and it's deafening at times. I will be following your blog, thanks for the connection. PS....I hear ya about the trees. I have to 'nag, nag, nag' for dh to cut a dead branch off a tree!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much! I am finding that writing is somewhat helpful in dealing with this new phase. Hang in there with the puppy,once the training is over, it's all heaven! It's is nice to know that I am not alone! Now, if we can just find the secret to hubby motivation...LOL
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