Busy, busy, busy....

Well, it's been a busy last couple of days. Yesterday, I was the school nurse yet again at my older 3 kids' school. After school, I took the 3 to the grocery store to pick up something for dinner. When we got home, I immediately got the chain saw out and proceeded to cut down 3 maple trees the wildly grew out of control. I know what you are thinking, why cut down a maple tree. Well, in these here parts, maples are almost like weeds. They are so prolific, and how they were growing was more dangerous than they were beneficial. They were growing at a 30-40 degree angle, and not straight. They were also growing at the corner of my fence, and starting to damage my fence. So, I proceeded to cut down the first, not a big deal. I was able to get it to drop exactly where I wanted it to drop. Then I cut down the next one, no real big deal there either, as it was just a sapling, but big enough that I needed the chain saw. Then I get to the last one. Problem! It was leaning in the direction of my clothes line. This is a huge deal, as I do use my clothes line almost exclusively in nice weather. (Hey, it saves $30-40/month using the sun power...I'll use that instead for those kind of savings) I decided that there was no way to cut down the last one, without taking out my clothes line. So I proceeded to take down the lines, hey, they needed to be tightened up anyway. After removing the lines, down the tree came. So, after downing the trees, they were cut up, and the kids helped to take the branches to the back of the property into the woods. After the tree clearing, we had a cookout for the girls' birthday. We had grilled hamburgers, baked beans, and chips. We ate outside on the picnic table. The kids had a blast, and the dog enjoyed the leftovers. After eating, I decided that since the maples were gone, that overgrown Burning Bush needed a haircut. All I can say it that it is NOT overgrown now. It may look terrible the remainder of this year, but next year it will look fantastic. There was a lot of dead wood that was removed. After bush pruning, off to eat ice cream cake and give the girls their birthday presents. They now know that they are going to grandma's in Florida for 3 weeks. They are so excited. The boys are a little upset, but understand that they have already been by themselves, and it is only fair.

Today has not been much calmer. Woke up to take the 3 oldest to their last day of school. Then, rushed back home to go out to breakfast with my youngest and grandma, before my doctor's visit for my ankle. After the doctor gave me the all clear (and explained a little more why I am having so much discomfort....he did more than I thought). We rushed back up to the school to pick up the kids from school. Since school let out at 11:30, we had to have lunch. Pizza at the local pizza parlor....yum. Back home to do more work. Chain saw back out, and more cutting. This time, I trimmed some branches of a magnolia tree that were too low. My mom and I also moved my composter closer to fence, since it can now be moved since everything is now so much neater and trimmer. We also planted a lavender plant, and some cannas. Used the weed whacker to do some trim, and washed a few loads of clothes. I started to use the chain saw and remove another tree (a dogwood that is half dead), but as I started I now know why it is half dead...carpenter ants. So I used the boric acid I have lying around and placed it into the tree where the ants were coming. I'll give the boric acid a few days to work and then down that tree too. I'm thinking of taking the kids out and wash my car in the next few minutes, but as I am sitting here, I think that I am starting to tire. Of course work is starting to call me(I don't start for at least 3 hrs yet) about setting up admissions for the weekend....looks like it's going to be a terrible weekend at work, oh joy.