TO HECK IN A HANDBASKET.....

I know, I know, it's supposed to be to hell in a handbasket, but ours wasn't such a big deal, so heck is entirely appropriate. 

It all started on Tuesday. I went to visit my friend Emily on her lunch break so we could knit together, eat our lunches, and schmooze. (A lot of world-class problems get solved during our schmoozing.)

I left my house at 11:50, knitted/etc, left her office at 1:05, and was home four minutes later. I'd no sooner put my lunch box in the kitchen than the doorbell rang. My next-door neighbor stood at my door and said, "Have you seen the big limb on your roof?"

That was the beginning. A trip to the yard and a gawk at the roof showed me what she was talking about. Wow! It wasn't a little limb, it was not only nearly a foot in diameter at the base, it was long. It was still attached to the maple tree. Looked a little as if it had got too tired to hold its head up and laid it down on the roof for a little snooze. (But that's just my interpretation.)

I thanked my neighbor and immediately dialed the cell phone of my tree guy, Dan. He was surprised to hear from me--he had trimmed three other trees for me a month ago.

He came to view the incident a couple of hours later (meanwhile, I had time for my afternoon nap), and after some cogitation, he and his crew (three other guys) worked together to tie the wayward branch so it would be supported by the main trunk of the tree and a super-duper rope. We agreed that barring a hurricane, that would suffice until the next day.

The next day, Wednesday (if you're keeping track), part of the crew returned with what I call a portable lift. They backed it into my yard, lowered the balancing arms/legs, flipped levers, and hey-presto! one of the guys was up in the air with a small chain saw reducing the limp limb to a pile of leafy limb-lets on the lawn. When all the leafiness was removed, he worked on the bare limb. And when he got back to the main part of the tree from which this one branched, he discovered the source of the rot that has allowed the big limb to slowly subside onto my roof.

Not only rot--ants! Apparently some ants love dead/decayed wood. So more decisions to be made--remove that big limb? Wait for a time to see what needs to be done? More cogitation. We opted for wait-and-see on the ant business. But it won't be a long wait-and-see.

The Good News: No damage to my roof at all.

More Good News: I didn't have to mortgage the ranch to pay for having my roof de-treed.

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Okay. Still Wednesday. I'd had to cancel an appointment in Fort Wayne because I wanted to be available to talk with the tree guy.

My daughter worked a split shift at the Post Office--she came home later than expected because she had a bad tire. Had spent some time getting an appointment today--Thursday, also known as blog day. She'll need a ride home from the tire place and will probably drive my vehicle to work.

The Good News: She had no trouble getting home with the flat tire (run-flat has to be the invention of the century); and I have a vehicle she can drive until hers is good-to-go again.

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As I say--not world-class tragedies, but certainly annoying disturbances in two orderly (or what used to be orderly) lives. But I have to say: scrambling to redo appointments isn't anywhere near major or unfixable or life-threatening.

Much to be thankful for; though I won't quite go so far as to say blessings. But, close enough.

The photos today were taken before/during/after the Big Tree Adventure. Hope they don't take too long to load.

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As the saying goes, "don't sweat the small stuff," and may all your irritations be small stuff.