Oh my BADness!  Where have I been for over a week?  Many of you are asking that very question.  Thanks for emailing and asking  . . . I know you care and that touches me beyond words.  Well, here’s my story  . . . grab a cup and have a seat!

Lets go back to last Wednesday when things were starting to get hectic.  There was a death in my brother-in-law’s family and a memorial service to attend.   Plus it had been a little chilly here for a few days and the temp in the house had dropped quite a bit.  I turned on the furnace to knock the chill off.  I accidentally fell asleep on the couch and when I woke up there was this strong burning smell . . . yep, the furnace died!  Mallory also called from school . . . she was sick and her roomie had H1N1 and bronchitis. 

Thursday morning I started calling around to different companies to get the furnace fixed AND started prepping for a medical procedure I was having on Friday morning.  Yes, I had to clean out the old system!  Mallory called sicker than the day before and was heading home for the weekend to visit the doctor and rest up.  Got the furnace fixed and luckily it was only a relay and we didn’t need to completely replace the entire furnace.

Friday morning I found out that I was a perfect asshole (yes, it was a colonoscopy).  I’m still waiting on biopsy results and I need to have some blood work done but so far, all is well!  The rest of Friday and part of Saturday was spent sleeping and recouping from the lack of food and caffeine from the previous day.  I did spend a time with Mallory and we went shopping for her birthday present . . . she was 21 on the 14th.  I hadn’t had time to get her present, so we just went shopping.  Oh, I also called the tree trimmers that I had gotten a quote from earlier in the summer.  Winter is a comin’ and the trees need a trimmin’  Can’t have anymore branches going through the roof!

Mallory headed back to school on Sunday, but is heading back home today for fall break.  Hopefully she’ll be able to get some rest over the next 3 days and knock this non-flu that she has.  Yes, she was past the 24 hour deadline for the H1N1 test to be accurate, but they have been treating her for it.

Now lets get to the guts of this week.  The tree trimmers drove into the driveway mid-day Monday.  I have spent the last 3 days watching and unable to get out of my garage.  But I did get some great pictures and video. 

We have in our yard (or did have) 4 very old pin oaks and one maple trees.  The estimated age of them are anywhere from 80 to 120 years old.  Over the last 4 years, our area has been hit by an oak disease and all the oak trees are dying.  It is so sad to walk through the neighborhood and see the fabulous old trees with dead branches and some trees just dead all together.    All we wanted to have done was for the dead to be trimmed out of our trees to avoid any further damage to our house and roof.  However, one tree was beyond recovery and when the dead was removed there wouldn’t be anything left at the top to balance the tree.  The arborists told me that within 3 months or after the next good rain, the tree would come toppling down and take our driveway with it.  So, the decision was made to have the tree taken completely down.  I have some great video of this, but do not have it ready today . . .  that’s another day! 

Here’s the tree that was taken down.  You can see how close it is to the house.  The other trees in the front yard have already been trimmed at this point.

See that rope tied to the top?

It’s attached to this truck across the boulevard.

As the climber cut, the truck drove. It wasn’t long until the top of the tree crashed into the front yard.  Now this is what we have left.

That red rope is attached to the same truck, but this time was on the house side of the boulevard.  It came down with a huge thud!

Now in the process of dealing with all this, I also had some branches trimmed that were on my neighbor’s tree, but hanging over my garage.  They caused considerable damage last winter and she refused to have them removed . . . so I did!  BUT, in her front yard is this tree

See that crack that goes the full length of the trunk?  I can put my hand through the top

I’m documenting it here because when this tree eventually splits and falls, it will take out my garage, laundry room, kitchen and family room.  I can’t make her take it down, but I can document it, report it to my insurance company (already done) and send her a certified letter requesting she take it down.  That way when it falls on  my house, and it will, my insurance company can use my documentation to fight with hers.

So that’s the end of my story, the trial and tribulations from the past week.  I did get into the studio a couple of nights and work on a special project though.  You’ll be seeing that next week . . . I can tell you that it’s a tutorial, both written and video!  Yes, I did my first video and you’ll be seeing it soon.  Please be kind when you do . . . I was just a little nervous about it.

That’s all folks!  I’m alive and kicking and ready to get back to work.  Have a great day and thanks for your emails and comments!