well, crap....

last Thursday as I put in my almost 12 hour day at work, I had such grand plans for my 3 days off.

Road-trip with the dogs.
Riding my bike.
Painting some paintings.
Painting the laundry room.
Patching the plaster in the bathroom.
Going for long walks with the dogs.
and maybe a little bit of gardening.
and what did I do?

I forgot to mention that last Wednesday I cut down my neighbors tree.

He had been "talking" about doing it for a long time.
He said it was his tree, I think it's right on the property line, wherever that might be!?!?
Anyway the thing got so heavy with these green ball things (walnuts?)

that it was drooping onto my brussel sprouts and tomatoes that I have planted in containers.
So as I cut off a limb that was hanging low, some of the other branches sprung back up in the air.
I thought it was kinda stupid to only cut a few limbs when I could just cut the trunk while it was bent down so low to the ground. So I took my Saw-Zall and cut the trunk until it started to crack.
The tree is only 3 feet from their open living room window. I had seen the wife come home and then the husband not even a half hour before I started so I know they could hear the saw AND the crack of the tree.
I mean I hear their dishes clinking when I have my windows open and I'm INSIDE my house (and don't have the TV or music on)
so....
after it cracked it wasn't cut clean through, just split. The trunk becoming more vertical again and the rest of it horizontal so I cut off all the limbs.
At one point my blade got stuck and I had to leave it stuck and put in another.

I continued until all the limbs were cut off.
 

So Friday morning, my first day off I look out my window at the mess.

Then I walked around outside surveying the situation and...

I've spent the last three days working outside from morning until dark, moving plants from the front yard and from the parkway and transplanting them into the flowerbed running parallel to my driveway and then planting the roses and the cat-mint all the way down the backyard, clearing as I went.

Every four hours or so, I'd go inside for a Diet Pop and an Internet break and then back out.
All the dogs lounged in the enclosed patio area in the nice 78 degree weather.
Except Jimmy. He jumps the fence every single time.
He has actually learned to jumped up on the top of it and walk along the edge and over to a good landing spot.
Then he calmly walks over to me.
I have several small tie-out leads linked together so that he can follow me.
Back and forth we would go, me with my shovel (until it broke and then my spade) and Jimmy trailing behind me until boredom set in and he'd go nap on a bag of mulch.
My whole vacation and I'm nowhere near done.
The neighbor guy came out today (Sunday) to cut his lawn.
He acted all surprised to see the tree down.
"Oh! When did you do that?" Yeah right.
He's Passive Aggressive, but so am I.
So he asked "Did it came down easy?" Give me a break, there's no way he couldn't hear that thing coming down.
But I play along and tell him I did it Wednesday. I say I will have to move the branches for him to mow but he volunteers to toss it in my yard. "Any place special?" and I tell him just not on my conifers. Those evergreen things as he calls them.
Yep, this could get interesting.
So...that's how I spent my Summer Vacation.
sigh.