Reverse Arbor Day

Yesterday was the big day at the house for tree removal, and I missed most of it! Luckily, Carla, who's been off from college between her semesters, was bored staying home so she spent the day at my house. She had to endure my constant, worried phone calls:

"Did any branches of the big pine tree fall on the roof?" "No, everything's fine."

"Are they grinding up the brush pile?" "Not yet, Dad. They're still working on the front."

"They drove off and didn't leave the wood chips, didn't they?" "No, they're in the back now and grinding up the brush pile."

Anyway, you get the idea...

Got home at 5:15, and they were gone, but the stumps were not ground. Hmmm...

I had invited Jake and Carla to stay for dinner earlier and Carla had taken a 2 pound pork loin and cut it into 1 1/2 slices (which makes boneless, center-cut pork chops) and put it into a fantastic marinade. While we were talking, the door bell rang. It was the tree guy, his assistant and his dog (that Carla had been playing with during the day).

About the dog, he was great! It was a Rottweiler/Chow mix, a big, bulky dog with long black hair. Really nice dog!

Anyway, he said the guy with the stump grinder would be by later and my fence still needed a piece added to fully close it. He said if I wanted I could keep back $100 until everything was done. I told him that was ridiculous and paid him in full for a job well done.

Jake then grilled the pork chops, Carla made mashed potatoes with butter, milk, cream cheese and an egg. I made the side dish. It was butternut squash with butter and brown sugar cooked in the microwave. I should explain that when those two are cooking at my house, the microwave is the only appliance I can get too! The food was excellent! We cleaned up and they left.

Then the stump grinder guy came over around 7:30 PM. He ground up the big stump in front, and the stumps of the two trees Jake and I had cut. BTW, this was funny: The tree guy told me proudly how he had cut all the stumps of the trees we had cut down to ground level. What he didn't know was I left the one by the boat about two feet high as I was going to cut it level and put a flower pot on it! Oh well...

Anyway, the stump grinder guy finished about dark. I walked around inspecting everything and was very satisfied. I am sorry about the trees I had cut, but it looks 100% better (better than I thought it would!)

I was exhausted, so I went it and went to bed after posting pictures.