Nice Fellow!

I got a reply! I got a visit! 

While I was out doing chores, I got a call from one of the other 'Tree & Brush Svcs' folks. He is the son of one of the neighbors down the way and was recommended to me by the owner of the lawn mower/chainsaw shop in town.

When he stepped out of the truck, I walked up to him and asked if he was Dominic. He smiled when I stuck out my hand and he shook it and said, he was. 

[Hmmm, don't tell anyone. But I thought he was also very handsome!]

First off. He was very polite and asked a lot of questions about how I'd like this work done. I also asked him if he knew of anyone that could brush hog my pastures. He handed me his card with the list of services he and his crew provide. 

Bingo! I hit the jackpot, if the prices were reasonable!

I pointed out the trees that were problems. A photo below taken with the cell phone wide angle which distorts things a bit. These are the trees near the house that need to go before they fall down on the house.

This is a closeup of the trunk of the trees on the west side of the house. I will hate to lose the shade, but would hate to have to repair the house if it came over on it. The woodpeckers and the Pileated Woodpecker know this tree is dying as they dig for the insects living inside of it.

These are Honey Locust trees and in the Spring they produce the most wonderful smelling flowers in the world.
I love to just sit out and listen to the bees above working on the flowers and breathing in the incredible scents.

But they are dying. The trees are were planted well over 70 years ago, so they have lived long past their prime.

I do dearly love these trees, but they have served their purpose.

I will lose their afternoon shade, but then again, the payoff will also be gaining a sunny spot to expand my flower garden if I wish to!

Then I took Dominic to the trouble spot.

The Widow Maker Oak Tree:

The shed and the tree 👇

At the base

He took a long time to look at this spot. 

Then he asked me a surprising question. 

I can get it to fall into the woods. Would you be upset if it hits another tree and damages it? Do you care how it falls? Do you want it cut up?

I get it. He has dealt with some of those folks who have moved into our area who are suburbanites turned wanna be tree hugging homesteaders. [No offense to anyone please!]

My woods are thick with trees that have fallen and tree tops and branches. There is nothing tidy about the woods. The woods are simply the natural forest. Trees fall in inaccessible places and as they rot down the provide nutrients for the forest. No big deal.

I answered him. "Better it fall into the woods and be a mess there than crush that little shed. My mules can walk around it and so can I."

The trees in the yard will be chopped up and deposited into a brush pile in the pasture. I will give some neighbors a choice to come and get firewood. If they don't, I'll burn the brush piles this winter. It is an activity that I actually enjoy.

I showed Dominic another little project I'd like to get done this fall. I also asked him to give me a price on mowing the weedy place we call a pasture. I said that I'd like to get it mowed -- brush hogged twice a year if possible.

Dominic also asked if I had a particular fondness for the stump that is in the yard. He said that one of the dead pines may fall on it and damage it. Right now I have a planter on the stump in the yard. I laughed and said I had no fondness for the stump, it was just a place that was convenient to set that plant that needed more sunlight.

"We can move the plant to a safe place," was his reply. 

I said I'd deal with it.

So I'll be getting an estimate for just the tree work via email next and an approximate date in August for the work to begin.

He'll notify me a week before he comes and I can take down the old fencing and get everything out of the way. This works out with my plan of replacing the hot wire in this particular area.

I'm so glad that I also have alternate pastures for the girls so they won't be in the way. Now? Fingers crossed that it works out.

----

I just got the estimate and it was very reasonable and much better than ones I've had in the past! Well now, that makes me a happy camper as I can cross off one more BIG Job off my list of to dos.

Arrrrrgh!

While driving home through Mad City [Madison], we went through construction sites at rush hour. 

I was in the left lane and the car in the right lane splashed us with what I thought was mud. The wipers barely got the mud off with repeated spraying. I just figured I'd run it through the car wash the next day.

Nope. This was liquid concrete and guess what? It doesn't come off! I read up on the different ways to try and get it off. Nothing works and it scratches the finish of the vehicle. 
Nasty Stuff!

So yesterday I stopped at the local body shop and talked to the husband/wife team that ran the place. He said I could scrap it off but ruin the finish on the hood, the door, the front, and the roof of our car. The front bumper and head light would be terribly damaged and messed up. 

His suggestion was to report it to my car insurance.

Now. The car is 5 years old. I love this car. I could take the money and run, have it scraped and deal with the rust and scratches. However.
For now? I will see what the insurance has to say.

Two years ago, I had a groundhog eat my transmission line and my insurance covered that.

At least I can say that I have some really odd claims?

Groundhogs and splashing concrete!

The bent plastic by the fog light was from a parking lot incident. I have no idea how that occurred when I was at the clinic last year... but if that part needs to be replaced, I'll have a two - fer.

Frank, the gent I hired for plowing last winter also farms and has a gravel pit as well as a business that does driveways and whatnot.

He and his worker arrived yesterday morning to see what we wanted done. This shot is of his bulldozer parked in the lower driveway. This section of driveway has no base left and becomes a mud sucking pit each spring. 

I have to park on the ridge or park on the hill and walk with groceries to the house. It would be nice not to have to deal with that next spring. He will dig out the culverts on the hill driveway and level out a place next to the back door for me to park and for vehicles to turn around.

What the driveway looks like during the thaw. View from the house:

These improvements have been needed for a long time. Hubby kept putting it off thinking he'd do it himself. The last time we had any real work done, it was in 2007 and that was on the hill. Nothing has been done to the lower drive since we bought the place.

2007 work:

This is sort of exciting. 

It pays to stay local and seek out someone who you know to do the work. Frank lives close enough to be called a neighbor. We've been neighbors since he was a young man. 

The work that was done in 2007 was from another local friend that has since retired from his work for the county. That was a huge undertaking and has really kept the hill driveway from washing out over the years.

As a bonus, Frank noted that two pines near the house were dying. He commented that he'd just push them down with the bulldozer. I said that was fine too. However I couldn't cut it up. I'd hack off my legs with a chainsaw.

He looked at his co-worker and said that they'd do that and haul it away. They could use the wood for the outdoor wood heater he'd purchased for his shop.

Well now. That seems like a good deal to me!