More good things happening around here --

All those trees and tree stumps that we haven't dealt with over the last 6 to 10 years finally DID get removed this weekend!  FINALLY!! 

There are those two trees that we had the tops cut off after one of the hurricanes -
probably Gustav in 2009.  The one on the left still had leaves on those bottom branches,
but that taller one was getting really dried out and would have been dangerous in another bad storm.

They piled a bunch of really huge pieces of wood in the front yard, then came back with a really
giant truck to pick them up on Monday evening.  But they're all gone now - at last!

It took them all day Saturday and Monday.  But it was amazing how many things that guy handled.  He had all sorts of gigantic equipment that other tree guys we've had come over did not have, so he had no problem getting rid of all those huge dead trees for us. 

Here's a lot of the things they used, but it isn't showing several really enormous ones, either --
that huge truck that he used to lift him up to the top of trees,
and the even larger truck that they use to pick up all the leftover pieces of trees in that photo above.



Instead of having to climb up and cut off portions while hanging on the tree,
he did it in that thing that's safer than being in the tree itself.   Much better!




So each time he knocks off a portion he just lowers that thing
he's working from and cuts off the next section.


Then Mark got that crashed-in panel on the front of the hay storage building replaced and Jerry got it painted so it looks just as good as ever, thank goodness. 

Back to normal . . . nice!

And that post at the corner of the dog yard and Duke's paddock that Mark accidentally knocked over with that tractor he rented has been replaced, as well. 

Now all we have left to do is to either smooth out or haul away all those huge piles of ground-up wood from those removed tree stumps.

They're just beginning here to take out that tree stump, but look how big a pile of sawdust is out there already!  You can imagine how much there is of it considering how many giant tree stumps they got rid of!

Well, we also have to fasten all those round pen panels to the posts cemented into the ground - but not until Jerry gets those posts painted as well.  He's actually going to do a LOT of painting.  I have a pressure washer ordered that's coming tomorrow so on Friday afternoon he'll be pressure washing the barn, the siding on the house, the porch floor, and even the brick on the side of the house that hasn't been painted yet.  Then on Saturday and Sunday he'll be painting the barn, and the posts and -- if that all gets done -- the porch floor and the brick wall on the end of the house where the A/C's and the generator are.   



All the posts out by the barn (around the round pen and on that new barn porch)
are going to be painted that same dark teal as this front door, those big
barn door shutters, and the furniture on that porch.



We bought a couple gallons of that dark teal paint (the color of that front door and the trim on the house and the barn) the other day,but while Mark was sitting there waiting for them to get it ready, we saw a sample of paint for use on decks that came out incredibly thick.  It fills in any holes or scrapes and makes everything on the floor outside super strong.  So I'm going to go get some of that stuff for the front porch.  Now -- if it's just stronger than the garage cat . . .  (She has scratched SO many places on that porch.  I hope she won't ruin that expensive paint!)

 

 

I visited a neurologist Monday to see about my memory problems.  I didn't think the issue would be Alzheimer's -- I forget words but I DON'T forget what I need to do about anything.  So he tested my physical abilities and did some blood tests, and I'm gong to go have a brain MRI next weekend, but at this point, he thinks all that shock therapy I had when I was only 18 might well be the problem.  Now whether anything at all can be done about that, he didn't say -- and I was afraid to ask.  But I guess I'll find out eventually.

 

 

I talked to Ken - the guy who is training Gigi - this morning and we discussed bringing her home.  He says she's completely trained, but I was concerned as to whether she would be able to get along with Joey and Rocky without fighting.  She enjoys most of those Rottie's out there, but she does fight with some of them.  Uh-oh!   

I was hoping Mark could hold onto the leashes for one or two of them while I held onto Gigi so we could let them meet, but he's gone back offshore for the next two weeks.  But when I told Ken that was a problem, he said I should just bring Joey and Rocky up there to his place Saturday when I come to pick up Gigi, and we will get the three of them together THERE instead of at home.  Oh great!  That way, if anyone begins to fight, Ken will be able to stop them.  He's not only capable of grabbing one of them, he also has a super-strong water sprayer -- almost like a pressure washer.  When the dogs act out, he can spray them with that and whatever they're doing, well . . . they definitely stop!  I'm going to tie one of our smaller cages into the back of the truck when I go up there Saturday.  That way, if they DO fight, I'll stick Gigi in that crate to bring her home while Joey and Rock will go back inside the truck and I won't have to worry about how to keep them separated.  But I'll be very happy if they CAN all end up inside the truck together, though.  Well - we'll see.