Deforestation

We had 5 dead/dying trees and every last 30+ year-old shrub removed from around our house on Saturday. There was one shrub I referred to as Grimace, because it had the exact shape of that scary, dimwitted fast-food character. There were two others roughly the same size and shape as Volkswagen Beetles. They were just a mess, and had to go. When they were removed, everything below the surface needles/leaves/whatever was dead. So trimming was not an option. I am thrilled to have a clean slate; I’ve wanted those things gone since we moved in. Replanting is going to require a lot of work, and I’m sure we won’t get everything done by the end of the summer, but at least we’ll get it all filled in with topsoil and mulch. I will post some pics when I get them off my camera.

Oh, and apologies to my neighbors for the tree guys firing up the chain saws and chipper at 7:45 am on a Saturday. I thought it would be more like 8:30 when they got started (which I now realize is still early for non-toddler households; when you've been up at 5:00 am for two and a half years, you kinda lose track of normal hours). Oops. Oh, well. Paybacks for all the ATV/car/boat engine-revving at naptime and late-night pool parties which caused me to close my windows on lovely summer evenings. Fair warning: the stump grinder guy is arriving next weekend at 9:00 am – get to bed early on Friday, people.