On Sunday morning, the crew came back bright and early to finish taking out the giant locust tree. Sorry, neighbors.
Every time one of those huge logs hit the ground, I could feel the house shake. Dr. Jones had been standing at the screen door watching the activity until a limb landed on the sidewalk and the branches came up onto the porch. Then he ran away and decided to mind his own business until it was all over. Toby mostly sat on the couch and looked concerned.
The guys told me that the tree was completely rotted in the center, so my decision to have it taken out was the correct choice.
I went away for a while toward the end and returned to find nothing left but this big pile of mulch. In the meantime, the phone company had come out and replaced their utility pole.
Goodbye locust tree!
After Saturday's rain and tree drama, I needed to pack a lot of fun and work into the next two days. I spent a couple of hours at Santa-Cali-Gon with my sister, niece and nephew.
I didn't ride any carnival rides, but we did go on a mule-drawn covered wagon ride.
Later that same day I went to a retirement party/birthday party, then met up with my husband so we could go see The Quivers play at Greaserama. After that, we went to another party to finish out the evening.
The next day was all about housework. I got up early and started hauling stuff out of the basement and putting it at the curb. Out went old stereo components we'll never use again, a broken microwave that probably only needed a new fuse, our original TiVo from before we got the HD one, and other miscellaneous stuff. The scavengers were out in force anticipating Big Trash Day, so it was all gone within the hour.
Once I'd freed up space on the basement shelves I set about rearranging my music gear, kitchen overflow and holiday decorations so my husband could have two full sets of warehouse shelving for his drums. I also cleaned up the wooden pallets that we'd been storing and put them in front of the shelves to provide extra space for stacking bass drums.
At the same time, I also started doing laundry and tidying up the rest of the basement. I began eyeing the duct that leads from the dryer to the outside and thinking that the tree was an omen regarding household maintenance of things that can kill you. I decided to go to Lowe's and pick up a new dryer vent duct and some other miscellaneous hardware items.
When I got home, it turned out that the duct they'd sold me was a full two feet shorter than advertised. I returned it to the store and decided to just clean out the old one. I took it outside, hosed fifteen years' worth of lint out of it and left it to dry on the deck.
Another task on my list involved the mulch pile left from the tree removal. I got out the wheelbarrow, a rake and a shovel and set about loading the mulch and depositing it in various flower beds. It was really hot out and I had to stop frequently to cool down and hydrate, but I managed to clear off a good two-thirds of the mulch.
Apparently Toby was very concerned with my mulch shoveling because he stood at the window and barked at me the entire time I was out there.
Finally I had done all I could, so I showered, made a cheese ball, and headed to A Librarian's house to play Cards Against Humanity and drink beer.
I got home in time to grab a pizza with the hubby and watch "Grimm" before bedtime.
So that was my Labor Day weekend. I'm sure the sore muscles will be kicking in any time now.
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