Trees

Many years ago, Mom and Dad took some tree saplings from my sister Sherry's yard to put in their backyard. Sherry and her husband Stuart, advised against planting them because they are not the best trees and tend not to live long. Mom wanted them, so she got them.  I remember Dad used to grow his tomatoes down near the creek when there were no trees. He had to stop when the trees grew. No more sunlight.

After the Estate Sale, we put the house on the market. We got one low-ball offer and part of the problem were the trees. The potential buyer had an estimate to have them removed. He stated it would be around $5000. We did not accept his offer nor did we counter offer. 

We have had a few intense storms since living here and Mike has been worried about these trees falling over.  We did wake one morning to find a tree lying in our back yard.

Our property lines are a little strange where a thin line of land on our side of the creek, is not our property. The creek is not our property as well.  This tree was on that thin line of land, so we had to let the neighbors behind us know about it. They said they would have it gone within two days. After a week, Mike got out the chain saw and cut it up himself and made a pile. 

Mike became a little more nervous about our trees when this one fell down. It was time to get some estimates. Awhile back, we were having lunch at the Hy-Vee grocery store (that is the store that has a helpful smile in every aisle) when we overheard an employee talking with another employee about how he was cutting down trees all day with his Dad.  We asked for his phone number which he wrote down on a napkin. I called his Dad and two other companies. The Dad was the only one that called back. We set up a time for him to come over and accepted his bid right away. We knew it was a deal. We had a huge storm the night before which brought a total of 5 inches in a little over 24 hours. The creek was at the highest I had ever seen it.

It took one day to get the trees down and most of it cleaned up. It took another afternoon to get it completely cleaned up. I was very impressed. It is a family business of a husband and wife, with their three kids. The climber was exhausted after climbing six of the nine trees they brought down. He didn't have to climb three trees.

The following picture is the walnut tree close to the house.  We wondered if mom planted this tree or if a squirrel did. It had tons of walnuts for the guys to clean up.

These are more pictures of the exciting but sad day.

The day we had our trees cut was the day Sherry had one in her yard fall onto their greenhouse! It was the same type of tree. Luckily, the greenhouse was empty and the damage was just to the plastic covering.

This actually made me feel better that we were cutting all of ours down. You wouldn't believe how many times Mom popped into my head as the trees were going down. I felt the need to explain to her why this needed to be done, and I did that all day.

Below is all of their equipment, along with a bunny next to that log. I couldn't believe the strength of these kids.

Before and After pictures below.

We have created another project. Now that you can see the back of the house, you can see how badly the porches need painting. That will have to wait until I am back in town and able to lift my arm without pain.   

Tomorrow I am leaving Mike for two weeks to hang out with the girls. Since I will be gone for so long, I thought I had better eat all the food in the fridge that Mike would never eat.  Last night I made this........

I wouldn't tell him what was in it as he made a face when he first saw it.   Beet greens,  purple and white cabbage blended into a soup. I then added pearl couscous.

He had two helpings, and then I told him it was cabbage, which he hates!