They All Fall Down

This is what consumed our recent weekend:

Sadly, it's done. The other two ash trees are down and our property appearance is forever changed. Hopefully, next spring we can be successful in planting a couple new trees in their place when the ground is ready.

Craig and three of our guy friends spent the better part of Saturday getting both trees down and cutting them up. Our friend Mike hauled off the cut-up sections of trunk, which he will use to heat his house this winter in a supplemental wood-burning furnace. Glad they're going to good use.
Those chain saws are heavy to be holding and working all day in that heat! Good thing all those guys are so macho. ;)

This is the aftermath - piles of branches.

Will and Craig and I spent most of Sunday digging rocks, cutting/picking up branches, hauling them back to the burn pile. Will was out in the morning during Sophie's nap and all he could talk about was the "front loader tractor" that Craig was borrowing from Papa.

Will got several rides back and forth to and from the burn pile and he even got to work some of the levers for the bucket.

It was a very hot day. Will was slathered with sunscreen and we reminded him to drink his water frequently.

I originally thought I would only be working in the morning during Sophie's first nap, so I went out for a three mile run at 8:30 before getting started. Then I worked for about two hours, came in to clean up and get lunch for the kids, play awhile with Sophie, get them both down for afternoon nap, and get back out for another 2+ hours in the afternoon. Lots of sunscreen, sweat and exercise! I felt like my cool friend Julie who's always outside being a good wife and helping her husband with this sort of labor project. :) (Hi Julie!)

Wow. What a long, exhausting day. But we had to get the branches and saw dust off the yard so it wouldn't kill the grass.

And now:

Looks different!

Then tonight, we had a massive fire to burn all the branches. Craig had to stand out there with the hose for a long time to keep it under control given the close proximity to the field.

Next up: stump grinding (the guys are renting a machine and doing that themselves too!) and removing "the peninsula" before fixing up our landscaping and getting new mulch.

More updates on house projects will follow!