First of all, thank you for sending all that positive energy Chappy’s way. He wants you all to know how much he appreciates it, and says to tell you that he is feeling better. Whatever was wrong last night was the same sore-back-stiff-pain-whatever that was bothering him yesterday morning . . . except obviously a little worse.

But between visits with the heating pad, which we’ve been calling Harry (and now Mom is calling Harry Hotter), and the baby aspirin that Mom was good enough to pick up this morning, he’s apparently feeling more like himself. I’d say, about 80%. He’s moving around a little easier, wagging his tail. His face looks happier, not glum and down-earred like yesterday. He even curled up a little for a nap before, which he hasn’t done in a few days. (He’s been being very careful to keep his spine as straight as possible.) So, he seems to be on the mend–I hope!

Now, about the trees. By “tree,” I mean these four, large, shrub-like trees (not the leaf-bearing kind) flanking our two bay windows. (It’s sad, but my mind is drawing a total blank on the kind of tree. You’d never know how much I loved nature studies when I was a kid; my knowledge of plant life is just pathetic these days.) Anyway, we’ve had them for 30 years, and when they were first planted, Mom was able to reach the tops to hang Christmas lights. Obviously, that’s not possible anymore.

    They don’t look horrible from a distance–like that first photo–but up close? Very patchy. A lot of dead areas. And, on this tree? The one on the right of the front door? See that . . . I don’t know . . . other tree growing out at the top? Like a squirrel carried some seeds from our blue spruce up there and it sprouted. Really bizarre.

Anyway, these are the trees they took down today. Apparently, it took less than an hour for all four of them. Chappy was kept at the back of the house so that they wouldn’t be working mere inches from his nose, and it all went pretty quickly. When I got home for lunch, they were already gone. (And, well, it was getting kind of hot by then, anyway.)

Actually, I was home a little early for lunch. Our office had a brown-out at about ten minutes to noon. It was weird–some things were still on, like my adding machine, and the monitors to my computer, but not the computer itself. Some of the other computers stayed on long enough to be properly powered-down (a good thing), while others crashed. But since 90-95% of the work I do is on my computer there really wasn’t anything to do. I didn’t even have a sock in my purse. So I left half an hour early, and came home to check on my boy. Really, it seemed entirely reasonable.

While home, I read about the 1814 Battle of New Orleans in the biography of Andrew Jackson I’m reading (really good, by the way), and the whole time had that stupid song in my head. You know the one. The old, corny country one by Johnny Horton. (Hum it with me–why should I be the only one suffering, here? “In 1814 we took a little trip Along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississip. We took a little bacon and we took a little beans And we caught the bloody British in the town of New Orleans. [Chorus:] We fired our guns and the British kept a’comin. There wasn’t nigh as many as there was a while ago. We fired once more and they began to runnin’ on Down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.”)

Really, it was a relief to get back to work and here the Marseilleise, played for Bastille Day, on the radio. It’s not MY national anthem, but it’s a lovely tune, and much, much better than . . . well, let’s not start that ear-worm again, shall we?

Anyway, here’s what the front of our house looks like right now . . . well, except for the fact that at this moment, 10:42 pm, it’s a lot darker outside. The landscapers are coming back tomorrow to put in the new, much smaller trees. It’s actually strange, being able to see the driveway again! And it’s even weirder to stand on the stoop and be able to see, well, everything.

Also tomorrow? A haircut. The first I’ve had since that debacle in February, when I went from this to this. For that one, I told her to take off about 2″ of the length. …Um, maybe if I tell her to just take off 3/4″ it’ll work out about right this time?

Tags: Chappy, Family, General // 8 Comments »