We left work at noon on July 3rd so as to get a bit of a head start on all of the work that I am going to have to do to get this destroyed tree out of my yard. Having spent most of my morning dealing with irritating bureaucrats I needed to replenish my energy, so the first thing we did on the way home was to get lunch (remember, I get crabby when I don't eat).
After lunch, I determined that I couldn't really be expected to perform my manly chainsaw duties if I didn't look good, so I went to the barbershop and got a particularly good haircut.
I dropped my wife off at home so that she could retrive our daughter from the babysitter's house, while I did the bi-monthly grocery shopping. After the grocery shopping, I realized that I had left several items at the store, so I had to go back and retrieve them (hey, I paid for that stuff!).
Now... now I am ready to get started (it is now 5 PM). I fired up the chainsaw and went to work... and work.... and work. Do any of you have any idea how much labor is involved in cutting up half of a fallen tree? No? Well, let me tell you... it ain't just cutting it into logs. In order to get to the bigger pieces, I had to cut through all of the small stuff.... and I had to make sure the pieces were small enough to drag away. OK... enough whining. Anyway, I got three hours of labor out of the way and had made a pretty good start.
I got started again at 9:00 yesterday (which is NOT the way I planned to start my 12th wedding anniversary), and was done by noon. Not too shabby, the walkway and sidewalk were cleared and swept, all was fairly presentable.
Now... I had planned to grill a really neat turkey tenderloin recipe last night... but it was not to be. "Why not, Bill?" you ask?, because there was a late afternoon storm in my area yesterday (betcha know where this is going...) and as I watched the storm through my living room window... I watched the REST of the @$%*ing tree fall onto my OTHER neighbor's yard.
This part of the tree was even bigger than the first!
I was NOT amused.
The tree-removal guy is coming to begin his labors late this afternoon, and I shall be glad to see him.
Our homeowners insurance is only going to give us $525 for the tree removal and replacement tree, but we are going to spend the extra money and have the lawn re-sodded and have a new border put in.
Ah suburbia.
2 comments:
Yes, cutting up a fallen tree is terribly labor-intensive. But it does have the benefit of immediate visual gratification, the progress is obvious and, to me, satisfying.
I'm certain it made a great difference for you to be neatly coifed prior to beginning such a task. Good thinking!
Oh! Happy anniversary!
That's about as harsh example as I can think of the "other shoe" dropping. Yay for hired tree-removal guys!
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