The Tree Man

Yesterday I put on my working shoes, long sleeve shirt, hauled out the 20ft ladder and started to climb to the top of a unappreciated pecan tree in my front yard. I have never been afraid of trying massive projects that were foreign to me so trying to trim my own trees seemed a great way to save money and to get my outdoors on. Well, I hadn't cut two branches when I felt that this was something the pros should do... at least I needed someone else to help. But I kept going. I started to climb the tree with my electric chain saw when I heard a zapping noise and saw 15 birds flying directly at me. Smoke began to rise from the alley and I instantly had no power. A transformer had blown. I immediately felt my iPhone vibrating and new that it was my wife Casey calling me to see if I was still alive. Well, she thought I fell and grabbed the wires on my way down to a very shocking death. But seemed that a squirrel managed to get fried chewing on the power lines. I took this as a sign that maybe I was suppose to retire early from the tree pruning business and let the pros do it.
So, today I hired a man to come to my house and trim 2 trees and to cut down another. He showed up at 8 this morning and brought his little boy and 5 month old baby. Side Note: They had tamales for breakfast and lunch. They gave me one and I tried it... ok no I didn't. Anyhow, he started by trowing a rope over some limbs and continued to pull himself up into the canopy of my 100 year old Pecan Tree. He went at it for a few hours then he moved on to the tree that was to be removed. This is where I learned a valuable lesson.... experience is very important for tree trimming. There was about 4 feet of wiggle room between the house, the fence, the A/C unit, and a storage shed. He would cut the limbs and push them down, knowing where they would land and how they would bounce. He knew exactly where to cut. I was amazed.
I realized that I can't do everything and that part of putting my big boy pants on in the morning is being able to decide what I can and can't do before the power goes out and it is decided for me.

don't take dogs to play tennis...

Well last night after my 1st post I noticed Macy limping around the house. I thought she was just really really tired and had a cramp in her legs. Well I looked closer and she had torn the bottom of her feet from running around on the tennis court. Casey and I looked online for all kinds of treatments and we are going to try and keep her off her feet for a few days. So... I learned my lesson at Macy's expense... only running on grass from now on.

tennis with a labradoodle and a maltipoo

Casey and I took Macy and Ellie to play tennis tonight. They ran in circles around the net as we would hit back and forth to each other. It was to their advantage that I haven't played in a year because the balls usually ended up in their mouth on my side of the net.