Thursday Mornings With Caleb & Charlotte (#2)

 Our morning started with Caleb and Charlotte spending time with us while Megan did her volunteer stint. Since it was raining (yes, again!) it also meant Joe was indoors for the day.

I helped the grandkids with their morning math and spelling, they played a little basketball between rain showers, Grandpa Joe played Chinese checkers with them, they sat at the kitchen island and ate lunch while I made potato salad, they played a game called Night at the Museum, and then they spent quiet time drawing at the dining room table until it was time to go home. Right as it was time to go, they decided that the entry way and living room floor were lava beds and they had to get to the garage without falling in the lava.

I got them home to Megan without burns from the lava…

I spent the day reading and napping. No plans to go out for fireworks this evening. With the weather any celebrations may have been cancelled. Our neighborhood was quiet. After two days of chainsaws, chippers, and stump grinders it seems exceptionally quiet.

Last night and this evening I watched a series on Hulu, “The Bear.” I am enjoying it. Eventually I will return to watching Grey’s Anatomy. Taking a break from the medical world and relishing the restaurant business is a gift I am giving myself.

Before and After (More Tree) and United Kingdom Snacks

Perry Eggert, we affectionately call him 'our tree guy,' took
this photo before they started the removal yesterday.
Our house is to the left of the tree.
The dirt area of the yard was courtesy of the people who put the new retaining wall in during May. We are waiting to re-seed or put sod down now that the tree is gone.

This view of the tree with an Eggert team member gives you an idea 

of the size of the tree!

Another view with branches cut from the tree in the foreground

The stump of the tree. This tree sat right on the property line. 

After the stump was ground out. Dan Parsons Stump Grinding 

removed the stumpdown a foot below the surface. Joe saved Dan 

work by digging up and exposing the large roots.

Megan, Jeremy, Caleb, and Charlotte came over at 5:00pm and we 

did our monthly YUM snack tasting. The United Kingdom snacks were among the 

 tastiest of the snacks we have tried so far this year.

Charlotte kept track of our reactions this month.

 

Goodbye to Our Ash Tree

The ash tree we share with a neighbor was cut down today. We like trees. This tree was sick and needed to come down. I was resting up from our whirlwind weekend so sat at the dining room window and watched the process. 

The Ash tree lookng out our Dining Room

Up top of the tree

Fascinating to watch the branches coming down, safely, one by one

Getting closer to saying goodbye to the tree

Last stage is preparing for tree to be felled in our side yard. 

Downed tree!

Home Again, Home Again

We left Defiance Ohio at 8:20am. We had planned to leave at 6:00am; however, we decided to sleep in and take our time getting on the road. It worked out fine, we arrived back in Saint Michael at 6:05pm . With the time change it meant we were on the road, with breaks to change drivers and get fuel, for 11.25 hours. 

We hit Chicago at the perfect time and had reasonably light traffic. The traffic around St. Paul and Minneapolis was also manageable.

Dinner was at Home Grown about half a mile from our house. I had a Saint Michael Sangria with a steak sandwich and salad for dinner. The Sangria was refreshing and  thoroughly relaxed me enough to not feel the road trip fatigue.

Alto was happy to see me, she 'allowed' me to pet her head and talk to her for at least fifteen minutes. Her usual time limit is five minutes.

We enjoyed our trip and now we are about to enjoy settling back into our home and having an early bedtime.

Tomorrow morning the ash tree removal begins. The best part is they don't expect to start running the chipper until 9:30 am. I am planning to sleep in!