Shhh...don't tell my dH that I posted these.
I couldn't help but crack up the other morning as we were waking up. I open my eyes, look over, and this is what I see.
He's been letting his hair grow out for a while. I guess he's trying to foster his mountain man appearance.
I got a kick out of this...maybe it'll give someone else a chuckle too. (He doesn't care...really.)
And actually, he asked me to cut his hair last night! So I guess he had his fling and now it's over. *lol*
Last Friday I had a Very Sad Ocurrence that started off my day. It was another dreary, grey morning, and I was trying to get started when I heard Buck barking like something was going on. I decided to check it out, and found Kitty on the other side of the fence with something in her mouth.
I was turning around to go back in the house, as she's caught mice before, when I saw it flutter, and knew she had somehow caught a bird.
I thought maybe I would see if it was hurt or not, since they seem to have an amazing ability to catch without harming sometimes. Maybe I could just release it and everything would be fine.
Nope. After I managed to extract it, with expletives and muttering on her part, I found a badly broken leg, to my dismay. I couldn't give it back to Kitty. I was already feeling sick at the sight.
So I brought Poor Birdie inside, and put her in a tiny box with a jar of warm water while I decided what to do. (Sorry it's blurred.)
Well, I went online and found the closet rehab center and called them to see what they would advise. She told me that cats carry pastuerella, a particularly toxic bacteria that infects birds quickly and causes certain death. If it didn't get antibiotic soon, it was doomed. So, wondering if I should make the 45 min to hour drive into unknown territory, I asked what my options were. She said I couldn't let it go again, as it would just suffer. I didn't think I could give that bird back to the cat after looking in its tiny sparkling eyes. She said I needed to break it's neck or bring it to them. Grrr.
Like I could snap that little thing? *shudder*
So I drove, of course. The weather cleared up, the sun came out, and I drove through beautiful mountains and up to their property in the woods. It turns out they are way back in Elizabethton, and moved up from FL about 17 years ago. They offer the rehab totally free, and the majority comes out of their pockets. They showed me a pair of great horned owls getting ready to be released, and a little screech owl they are going to use for educational things because it has a permanent injury. Pretty cool.
She had that little leg set and splinted in no time, and gave the antibiotic. Said it would probably be about 2 weeks before it would totally heal, provided everything went as planned.
So I drove back home with my Very Bad Day turned into a good one.
Well, last Saturday dH decided to take the tree down. One of the few we need to remove this fall. Only this one was the biggest, in front of the house close to the street. A giant diseased maple whose time had come, with its dropped bark and bare limbs over half the tree. What a sad thing to undertake.
So we got up and started in about 9:30, before traffic got too bad. It was a little scary at first, with me trying to be strong enough to pull a branch out of the way with rope so it didn't bust the gutters or break a window.
Thank goodness we are lucky enough to have the best neighbors possible. Who has neighbors that show up and start helping, taking time out of their Saturday? Without them, we would have been in a mess! For one, our ladder was way too short to complete the job. And it would have taken forever for just the two of us.
So they helped until noon, when we got it down to the trunk part.
Then we had some friends from work show up with their wives and kids and chainsaws, and they went to town on the huge parts.
Meantime, the kids played in the back with the dogs and chickens.
And by dark, all that was left was a foot high stump. Whew. And lots of raking and stacking and such. But the majority....done. Amazing.
And I'm so glad to have everything getting back to normal now, even though I feel like my house is naked and I can't hide anything now. Time to work on the front beds, especially now that the hostas will be in full sun and the ferns.
Oh...and I'm assuaging my grief with thoughts of our new tree, coming shortly. It will be a 10ft. Snow Goose Cherry, growing to about 30' x 30'. We saw one at the UT Botanical Gardens this past spring, and it was georgeous!! So we're excited about that. Hopefully we can find a place to dig a hole big enough...I want it close to the where the maple was. And it will be fun to have something that's not so common. Here's a pic through the trees.
So that's that. Now we just have to take out the black walnut, (in the power lines and messy) and this other smaller tree that's dying and blocking my garden light anyway. And trim back the maple in the back yard that's hanging over the house.
And weed all the beds to prepare for pansies and such...and rake leaves to add to the compost...and till the garden to prepare for the launch of lasagna gardening....and I better get started or this will never get done!!
