One week

Its been a week. Quite a busy one at that. Put my Dad at rest last Friday with my siblings. A big wind storm came up and the trees in the back yard started to sway. Of course the trees could sway down the hill away from the deck and house, but no, the middle cotton wood swayed as if it was going to come down right on my lovely medal roof, and crush my lovely deck. I brought  Tom out to see the swaying trees. He agreed they should be removed if only for peace of mind.

Yesterday, the tree guys arrived at 7:30 am. They started chain saws exactly at 8:00am. Six big Cottonwoods were dropped. Tom and I are on clean up to save money. It is three times more expensive than just having the trees dropped, if the crew does the clean up. I am trying to figure out what to do with the wood as we are in a burn ban zone and cottonwood is stinky when burned I am told. The men finished the job in less than two hours.

It was amazing to see the men climb up the trees , limbing as they went with running chain saws. they took several of the trees down in segments for safety of the house. When the big trunks finally fell, the ground shook. Had the trees fallen in the wind they would have caused massive damage.

I went out with my clippers to limb up some of the downed branches. If I cut everything into small chunks they will lie flat on the ground and decompose faster. They will also take up less room. tom has given me permission to buy a new set of cool clippers. I had seen one at a friend's home which was hinged for leverage with bigger branches. Loved it.

The boys came home. I started preparing dinner with Riley, until he reminded me I had a date night planned with Tom. The boys were getting to eat Shepard's pie all to themselves, one of their favorite dinners. Ten potatoes mashed and placed on top of a pound of ground hamburger and three cans of green beans and onions and petite diced tomatoes and a small can of tomato sauce, topped with cheese and baked. There are no left overs.

I went back outside to catch the last of the day doing yard work. After sweating in the beautiful sun until it was too dark to see,  I ran inside to dress for the club. It was Reno night where our husbands play dealer and the women gamble. Only members can participate, but it is one of the funnest events of the year. At dinner, envelopes of chips are given out as prizes to start the players off. I won $15 in chips. Pretty much almost every woman won chips.

Tom was one of the dealers. He is a popular table as he peaks at the dealers hand and tips everyone off as to whether they should hit or split or if it is a lost cause from the beginning. The dealers have their cocktails beside the card shoe. It is a very casual affair, but I dressed up in as black cocktail dress and nylons,  as the theme was Reno night.  I don't particularly like to gamble. I swear I will have a heart attack over the stress I feel at each hand. I feel agitated until the hand is over and I have won or lost.

After three hours I am ready to head home. I broke even for the night, which is how I like it. I drove Tom and me home, where we cuddled on the couch watching a recording of the new episode of Gray's Anatomy. It was after midnight when I went to bed, exhausted. 

Had to get up in the morning to drive Riley to school as he was taking a home made dessert, Spanish lemon sponge cake. The students have made up a menu with each group preparing an authentic dish. Riley chose sponge cake. He also chose marzipan cookies but they turned into a sticky globular mess on the cookie sheet that will need to be left to soak in order to remove the sticky mess.Riley decided not to do flan, that the lemon sponge cake would work more easily. Of course we over cooked the sponge cake but were able to still wrap it up with whip cream in the middle.  It looked credibly home made, no cheating.

Riley will be translating the recipe into Spanish and presenting the dessert to the class. For safety's sake I drove him to school so he could drop the dessert off in the classroom without incident. Several people asked if sponge cake was really a Spanish dish. Riley said he checked several web sites and books to confirm. I just don't know that many people will get to taste that small cake for a class of 30. I asked if he wanted to make another cake, but he passed on the offer. One sponge cake was all he needed for the grade.

This morning, my grouchy neighbor called to let me know he saw the trees down in the back yard and a few of the branches were on his property line. I can honestly say a surveyor could call it either way, it was that close.  OMG. He did say he was pleased to have the cotton woods gone as they would send their little fluff out into the wind and end up in his garage. But he wanted to affirm we were not burning and that we would be cleaning it all up. He also told me one of his trees has a branch on our roof which he would let us remove. Really?  You should see his overgrown yard. I have been spraying the black berries between our two houses. He needs someone to work on his place. I couldn't believe he called. I have ordered some English Laurels to begin my privacy hedge between our  houses. I may be ordering more.
 
I am thinking maybe we should build a horse fence down that side of the yard with the branches of the downed trees. I have enough branches to build a fence the whole way round the property. Tom and the boys want a big dog. We will need to fence for a  puppy.  First things first, we get the back yard in order. I can finally start planting.