Now that is a hard way to make a living.

The tree guys showed up today. WOW. It is really something to watch someone who knows what they are doing take down trees. I have power lines where the maple was. The guy scaled the tree like a monkey. Dropped the branches by rope to waiting helpers who promptly fed them into the biggest chipper I have ever seen. It took about two hours to get the maple, chopped up and gone. Bad news of the day was the oak tree. Cost me $2500 to drop it. That one they earned every penny. The other two trees  with the stump removal were $2200 total, so the oak really smacked the pocket book hard. They got the maple down, stump ground, oak down, and all carted off. I thought they were done for the day. Nope. They headed to the back yard and got the third tree just about cut down before admitting defeat. They will be back in the AM. It was really something to watch them take down trees. Made it look so easy. The house looks totally different now. I like how it looks from the street now. I will wait and see about the other maple. I may take it down as well. It would make the front yard look cleaner, but I will wait until I have the garage in and see what it looks like. I would hate to lose the shade, and with the garage in, the tree may look like it belongs again. It grew kind of weird seeing as how it was in the shadow of the much larger maple, so branches favored the side of the tree that the sun hit. It would work with the garage though, as the garage will go where the big maple was, so the existing maple would be leaning slightly away from garage and the branches grow away from where the garage will be. They should finish up really early in the morning. They are down to a small trunk to take down and some clean up. If they show up at 7 like they did this morning, hopefully they will be done by ten or eleven. I plan on hitting Frog follies tomorrow. Hope to get there relatively early.

For real this time, maybe

The climber that cuts the tree and ropes the limbs down was out earlier this month with kidney stones, so they cancelled last minute. I start my mini vacation tomorrow and they are suppose to be here early in the AM to finally get the trees out of here. I won't believe it until I see it. Not getting my hopes up until they are climbing the trees. I can't believe I had to wait almost five months. All the tree places have a waiting list. I definitely wouldn't have picked these guys had I known how long it was going to take. They told me mid June originally. I can't wait to see what it looks like when done. Should make leaf raking a lot easier. Still have two maples and an oak, so, not easy, just easier.

I got the ceiling fan installed in the dining room during the week. It actually went very smooth. Thought I would have to put up a reinforced electrical box, but the old one is solid. The house was built in the 40s, and I pulled a small chandelier to put the fan up, so I lucked out there. Going to try and figure out a way to get wiring up to the middle of the living room ceiling so I can put a fan in there as well. There is a pair of light switches for a light in the living room, but they don't do anything. Going to pull covers off the outlets in the room and see if there is an abandoned switch wire in one or more of them. The old houses usually had one or more receptacles wired where the top plug was switched and the bottom wasn't. It would give me a decent start anyway. The attic access is ridiculously small. Have to send a toddler up to check things out. There is a weird storage area in the dining room that has an access door in the wall. I believe I am going to try and cut a usable attic access hole in there that I can actually fit my fat ass through. Want to put a fan in the bedroom and office as well. Can't believe nobody ever converted them before. Or put a decent attic access anywhere for that matter. Second house I had to do this to. I hate lamps and love fans in all rooms. Makes a huge difference.

Friday is Frog Follies again. Best car show around. Plan on checking out the car lifts while I am there. Hope to put one in the new garage next year. They usually run specials at the show, and the garage and trees are going to be enough of a burden this year. Get their recommendation for floor thickness as well as ceiling height. Suppose to be beautiful out Friday. Usually it is pretty steamy at the show. Nowhere to cool off, so I usually go sit in the truck after a few hours of walking and cool off in the AC. Shouldn't have to do that this year.

Probably spend the weekend trying to get the area where the maple in the front was, converted to parking area for now. I can move the railroad ties to frame it in and then start getting quotes for the garage. With the trees out of the front and back, and the sheds moved to their new locations, I can finally see which area is best for the garage. If I go in the front, it will probably be a 24x 36 or 40, depending on what is allowed. Limited by space between house and side walk. If I do it in back yard, I will probably go with 24x40, but I would put the doors on the narrow end and run it deep. I have a septic and need to stay out of the field. If I go with the back yard, I will still put a couple parking spots in front next to garage. Truck will probably live out there.

I thought they forgot

I finally got a call today. The landscapers. They told me in april, it would be the middle of June before they could get out here. I called mid June, they said they would be out first week in July. It is now the second week of August. I was getting ready to call and ask WTH was going on, and they finally call. They will be out Friday. PERFECT... I am excited. I have been getting the weekend off most of the time, so, I will take a personal day Friday , as I have to be home for them to do it, so I get a three day weekend and get to see people take three trees down while I sip on coffee and relax. Should be something to watch. They don't use equipment. They climb and drop by hand. No heavy equipment tearing up the yard. I got home and moved the Mustang from the corner of lot to the area by the garage so it is out of the way. Total pain, as it doesn't have a steering column or floor pan in it. Steer with a crescent wrench on steering shaft under hood while towing with strap on truck, by myself. I managed to do it without damaging car, truck or house. I am anxiously waiting the removal of the maple so I can get to planning garage. Saturday I will move the railroad ties to where the garage walls will be so I can get a feel for if that is what I want. Also get an idea what it will look like. Once trees are out I can mark front and back yard where the garage would go and get quotes from builders so I can decide where to best do the build. I bought some of the paint they use to mark grass for events. I figure I can paint corners of garage area in the back yard as well as driveway, so I can get an idea how that would look. Hard to tell until the trees are out of the way and I can get a clear view of what it will look like. Getting to the finish line on most of the projects. Kitchen is done except for a few minor items. Hope to get finished pictures of before and after up soon. Only other project I have to get done yet is painting the floor and wall in laundry room and rerouting water lines. I replaced all rotten wood on the last of the three sheds and painted it last weekend. This weekend I am going to see if I can manage to turn them ninety degrees and move them over to the corner of the back yard. Should be interesting.

Only two more weeks until I get a minivacation. A Thursday, Friday vacation to go with the weekend. It is for Frog Follies. My favorite show of the year.  Should be starting to do more recreational stuff now that the work around the house is winding. down. Can't wait until my garage is done and I can finally start getting the mustang finished.