WHILE WE WERE GONE...

So, the re-entry has been going fine....The KEY to my happiness, of course, is --AS ALWAYS --

LOWER EXPECTATIONS...!!

John was upset because Calvin did A LOT OF WORK in the yard during the week we were gone. But I knew that would happen.

40 years ago (or so) -- we had just moved into this house, and the State was widening the highway in front of our house. They were adding shoulders to the road -- and digging out a lot of dirt to create bigger ditches. One day, John asked the crew if he could have a couple of loads of dirt to level out our yard. 

They said "sure thing" -- and two dump trucks brought HUGE loads of dirt down our lane...He had them dump it at the end of our driveway.  Which, unfortunately, prevented me from ever being able to pull a car into our brand new, detached garage.  It seemed like a temporary issue that wasn't much of a problem.  After all, it was summer time...

But it was A LOT MORE DIRT than he really needed or could reasonably wheelbarrow to a more useful location. So you know what happened next...

40 years accidentally slipped by -- and that pile of random dirt grew a robust crop of horseweeds every year...then trees started to prosper. The pesky, dirty kind like walnut and locust.

As Calvin was working along the side of the garage, he found 100 pound gas containers...various metal fence posts, etc.

Concrete blocks, old windows and pieces of plywood had to be pulled out before he could actually get at the weeds...ugh...

This is a pretty good "before" picture. You can't see how big the pile of dirt actually is -- because it looks like a natural hill that we built around...

But you can see that it totally prevented a car from actually making a turn to enter the garage...ugh...

The biggest tree is over 40 ft. tall.  And VERY healthy....I had NO IDEA what a big job this was gonna be.

On the day we pulled out, Calvin was still digging through to find the metal junk and debris...

 

I haven't taken the "after" picture yet -- but it ain't exactly over, either. As it turns out, the tree was so tall, and growing in such a way, that just cutting it down, it would have fallen right on the garage. So, Calvin brought down his main helper (his wife Jeanne) -- and had her operate his big tractor so he could stand up in the bucket to top the tree.... As best he could. 

Then, as he continued to cut away, he attached big straps to the large limbs so Jeanne could pull them down in the right direction...

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? 

Remember -- my brother had a botched heart valve surgery, followed by a stroke and over 60 days in intensive care.  His lungs are shot and he walks with a cane.  YIKES...

I was horrified when I heard all that was involved in removing this mound of dirt and the biggest tree...

But Calvin was pretty darned pleased with himself.  

When we came home, yes, John was annoyed that Cal was "making another mess"...