The Tree Guy. Sigh! He still has the most beautiful eyes. And a cute haircut. But I think he was in much better shape the first time he came to cut down trees, of course it was March when I called the first time. He had on a pea coat and the snow and the winter sun made him look like the most handsome guy I had ever seen. He's put on weight. Gotten older. And he was wearing a tank top. Never attractive on a man, in my humble opinion. And I am still 20 years older than he is.
A significant number of trees are being cut down next week. Twenty or more. And a big area was chosen for bark chips. Pine in one area and oak chips in a separate area for mulching blueberries. And. Big News--everything is being hauled away. The cut trees, the junk around the yard and even the 20 year old wood pile on the driveway pad. What can't be hauled will be ground down or chipped. The Tree Guy and I agreed that any "collateral" damage or loss of even more trees is "okay" with me. It's not like I don't have over 200 trees growing up close to the house.
The two very tall oaks that are 6 to 8 feet from the front of my house are coming down. Insurance won't pay enough to rebuild the house if they fall during a storm. And the angle of growth says they will fall on the house. Three huge oak triplets at the end of the driveway have roots that are "humping" up the asphalt on the driveway, causing cracks, which encourage ants to set up housekeeping. They are coming down and the stumps will be ground down to 6 inches below the surface. This isn't inexpensive. The original 15 trees came in at $950 and will take less than a full day to be taken out. And then we started adding more. They will be here working Monday thru Saturday. Next week.
When they leave, it's as if the trees never existed. There is no evidence of the tree even being where it was. It's like magic. No branches, no leaves. Just a pile of wood chips and they would even haul that away if we didn't want the chips.
G will call a driveway guy he knows (from when he owned the McD's) and we'll get the driveway repaired and resurfaced after all the tree work is done. Shiny, smooth and black. Good as new.
New roof, new furnace and hot water storage tank, less trees (more sun) and a resurfaced driveway. I am spending my inheritance to invigorate my home and property. I want my home to look good. Well cared for because it is a valuable asset. And G says we should enjoy living here.
I am embarking on an additional 8 days of Induction. My test strips show an increase (to small) in my ketosis. I'm still in the light pink areas and need to move into the purple areas of the strips. Yesterday I sat in the car, happily, while G had an ice cream cone with chocolate sprinkles. In all honesty, I wasn't even interested in having ice cream for myself. It felt odd. The "not wanting". But good. I don't think I have ever been in control of my appetite before, in my whole life. Never, not been "hungry". So I will continue and perhaps be doing this for the remainder of my life. Who knows. Eight Days. Small steps.
Two things men should never, ever wear are the dreaded tank tops and the even more dreaded Speedos.
ReplyDeleteThis seems like a good price for cutting down 15 trees. We had only about 4 big trees cut a couple years ago and it was more than that. Interesting to watch. We spread some of the chips they left from our trees under the picnic table out in the trees and in chronic muddy areas near the bridge. They are nice to walk on--bouncy and smelled really good at first.
ReplyDeleteYou have more than 200 trees? Wow. One of my criteria for our house/property was that it have big trees, which it does. I don't have time left in my life to grow my own big trees. I see developers taking out all the trees before they start building in an area. Seems like a crime to me. But having trees does have its price for sure, and I, too, worry about them in storms. We had the top of one come down across the creek a couple winters back and it took out another tree on its way down. Far from the house, thankfully.
Joanne, your yard sounds like mine, we have huge oaks too and I would like them gone. There's such a thing as too much shade!
ReplyDeleteI can't believe that price, the reason we don't have more removed is our quote was thousands for a couple of big trees.
Continued success with your diet.
: )
Terry is right... developers clear cut acres and acres to build "master planned communities." We lived in one in TX and we paid a lot of money to plant one beautiful smallish tree in our yard. The builder put in even smaller cheaper trees. It will take decades for those to fill in. Here in Maryland I am still entranced by the trees and how they change and grow through the year.
ReplyDeleteI hope you take some before and after pictures!