Our third and final tree has been marked by the city for mandatory removal. It is larger than this one in the photo, and the estimate comes in at $2275 bc it's between wires and hanging over our neighbor's house. Right before we move. I don't want to own a house again.
How much, in total, will you have paid...for all the tree removals by the time this is over? Do you get any sorta tax break...does insurance help? Or, are you simply sol? I'm sorry, that's a big bummer.
We have a couple of hickory trees that are sort of iffy. They'll probably come sown in the next couple of years. At least we can smoke lots of meat with them.
Hi everyone, it's Caitlin. Thanks for all the birthday wishes the other day.. My mom said she told you about my friend Julianne and I wanted to update everyone. She fell down a flight of stairs and was found 15 minutes later unconscious and was taken to the hospital. She was in a coma for 2 days and just today started coming in and out of consciousness. When i was there today she started talking. She looked at my friend Emily and I and said,"Burgers..two burgers NO fries". So i guess shes hungry! Shes making really good progress and at least remembers how to talk which is good. Keep her in your prayers, its going to be a slow recovery..
Pat...does the city give you a certain time period to take the tree out? Does the house look better with the tree? If so, just sell your house and disclose that the tree has to come out. (just an idea) Check city hall to see if there is a limit on what the city can "assess" a single homeowner in one year.
Yup, we went through all this last year with our two other trees. It won't make our house look worse bc it's on the edge of our property and leans over our neighbor's house. We have one month to remove it and then the city does it for a large amount of money and tacks the cost on to your taxes.
What a bunch of bs. As a faithful taxpayer your city should offer some assistance to you. God knows the government will seek to assist everone else EXCEPT the middle income schmucks like us.
Pat, you didn't tell everyone about the chipmunk in your kitchen? Pat called me last night and said she was holed up in her kitchen with a chipmunk the cat had chased in. So, how did you get rid of it? DId it finally come out from under the radiator?
Well, since I only have 2 demerits... as I'm sitting on the toilet this morning doing my business, guess who walks in with his hands covered in poop up past his wrists? I tell him to hold still, don't touch anything, until I'm able to help him. I grab him by the elbows and walk him to the sink and scrub his hands. Then I walk into the living room to see that he has rubbed poop into the very light carpet in an atempt to clean his hands. I thought something looked funny when I was on my way to the bathroom, but he was sitting so quietly I didn't want to disturb him. Why would one be inlined to stick his hands into his poopy diaper and squish the smelly matter between his fingers. I swear, a girl would never do such a thing. We're renting the rug doctor tonight.
Mary Laurel at 18 mos. or so... in her crib, throwing her do do out of her diaper, rubbing it on the slats of her crib, rubbing it on the wall, etc.
But 18 mos. is younger than Jude. (Ha Ha)
I knew someone in Omaha whose son wouldn't poop on the toielt until he was 5 because he didn't want to take the time to push and wipe. As his mom was cleaning him up one day she asked hime WHY he did this and he said, "It's just easier to have you do this, Mom!"
And I have a nephew (Randy's side) who fought pooping on the toilet until he was about 4 or 4 1/2.
MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa -- Police blame a woman named Butts for stealing toilet paper from a central Iowa courthouse, and while they're chuckling, the theft charge could put her in prison.
"She's facing potentially three years of incarceration for three rolls of toilet paper," Chief Lon Walker said, stifling a laugh as he talked to KCCI-TV about Suzanne Marie Butts. "See, I can't say it with a straight face."
Workers had noticed the rolls disappearing from the Marshall County Courthouse much faster than usual, Walker said.
Butts, 38, was caught last week after an employee saw her taking three rolls of two-ply tissue from a storage closet, Walker said.
Butts insisted it was the first time she'd pilfered toilet paper, but she declined to answer further questions on her attorney's advice.
The fifth-degree theft charge, a misdemeanor, normally carries a sentence of less than a year in jail. But Butts could face more time if convicted under the state's habitual offender law because she has prior theft convictions.
Walker did not know why Butts was at the courthouse, but said that she did not work there.
I stole toilet paper in college, from the "commons"...when you're a poor college student, toilet paper is a luxury! (Uh OH...what's the statute of limitations for tp thievery...it was plain white one-ply).
Pat - how many quotes did you get on the tree removal? I'm willing to bet that there is a cheaper quote available (using imported labor). Talk to neighbors who might have been in the same boat. Ask who they used. If you see a crew working on a tree somewhere in the city stop and talk to the boss.
I'll bet there are a couple of guys out there that would do it for under $1000.
Yeah, that's what we've been doing. Have called about 4 places now. The problem is they need to use a huge crane and go over the top of our house from the front yard, because of the arch and the houses nearby. I'm done whining, I promise. I mean, about this. Our friends had to pay $7000 for one tree. p
Caitlin's friend is improving, she sat up and identified family members...she also asked her Mom to "get me out of here"....but she still has a long way to go. Nance, thanks for putting her on your Mom's prayer chain. They put her progress on a blog (anyone can do this with a relative in the hospital...it's "caringbridge" then click on visit...then "julianneokeefe"...) anyway, her parents are international Catholic activists, and the number of blogs from their frinds is interesting...check it out if you have time:-)
Oh, you're welcome. :-) I, actually, had to place two people on her all powerful prayer chain that day. My stylist was seriously burned, Friday morning, when she had a seizure while blow drying her hair. She's in a burn unit and had some skin grafting. Scary. She's, like, 26 years old and had been having a some seizures, lately, and the Doctors were trying to figure out their cause. :-(
I strongly encourage all of you to use Helen's prayer chain. It is powerful. A few years after my father died, my mother was having a hard time and keeping company with a not so good guy. I told Nance about the situation on a Thursday and she called her mother right away and had the prayer chain folks go to work on the issue. By noon the next day, the guy had dropped dead in my mother's living room...right on the fake oriental rug. Some sort of really bad pneumonia. SO they say. I strongly encourage anyone to use this prayer chain. The Lord moves in mysterious ways.
Maybe the tree, Pat...something unexpected might happen to it...
A fortuitous lightning strike...and good thing it hangs over your neighbor's house and not yours...it could happen. We called Midwest Walnut once to see if they wanted our walnut tree for free but they said they don't like walnut trees from people's yards because they're likely to have nails & stuff in them. Weenies. The first estimate we got was over $10,000 partly because of the awkward location. We're just resigned to the annual walnut shower. It cost us almost $2000 just to get that one and the oak in our front yard cleaned out and cut back a little. Now this year the oak grew leaves straight out of the big limbs, all along the length of them. They look like big hairy arms. Nature is silly.
I shouldn't have demerits - give them to Cox. Catherine's away at camp this week. I asked Mia if she missed her and she said "Yeah" while shaking her head in negative. She's playing with all the cool stuff in Catherine's room all week.
Well, I have to go move some more stuff (Russian boatmen's music swelling in background) My officemate Joan, who handles marriages and annulments, has been shredding like Rosemary Wood all week.
Whoops - just got saved from moving stuff by Stevo, who locked his keys in the car and has to be rescued. Shucks.
When we bought Sarah's we hired a landscaper to do some stuff to the tune of about $10,000. Removing 5 big pine trees was way too much $$$ in addition to the work that already had to be done. Tom decided to take 'em down himself. They were really BIG and some were by power lines! I put him on my Mom's A.P.P.C. and all went fine. Pat~ I bet you could pay Tom $1,500 to do the work! I mean yah are family. :-<> :-)
The first time we had tree work done scary guys who looked like they might kill you for money showed up. The main one had an eye patch.
We asked if they were going to use a cherry picker. No. They put on spikes and climbed that sucker.
They did the nicest job of tree trimming I have ever seen.
When we had to have the maple cut down, they weren't available so we had to hire someone else. Not as exciting, but it left a 15 foot long 3 foot wide ditch in the ground after it fell.
Well, Josh's brother used to remove trees for a living, and he came over last year to see if he could do the two we had to take down then. But he climbed up and finally said he couldn't do them himself. Even though he owned all the spiky shoes and tools, he said it was just too dangerous where they were, especially since he doesn't carry insurance if they hit a neighbor's house or the power lines. So, we've tried the family route. It's fine. If we weren't trying to sell the house and already spending money we don't have on that, and hadn't done the two last year I wouldn't be lamenting so.
Remember the Taliban rules that were posted a few months back...well, they do "follow their rules"...one of the female Afgan teachers who stayed in Omaha (not one of our guests, but I bought a rug from her) she was shot in the head while sleeping, on Friday night. These female teaches get "night letters" from masked men threatening them to stop teaching young girls, and to wear the burqa! She also ran for parliament, and had a radio show with her husband, and talked of women's freedom in post-Taliban Afghanistan... She was the head-mistress at her school:-(
There's an article in today's world herald...omaha.com...it's news here because UNO's center for afghan studies is so involved and world renowned for helping to educate the afghan teachers to teach the young girls...the head guy was on Nightline a lot after 9/11 because of his expertise...his wife sells afghan rugs at Nebr. Furniture Mart.
I just talked with Joe K...he said Mom and Dad got off the plane from Ireland (in Chicago) and drove to Cedar Rapids!! I don't know how they do it, they left Monica's this a.m. at 9:30 and so they should be home by 1:30...maybe they'll stop at Sarah's for lunch.
Yes - mom and dad landed at about 4:00 and were out of customs by 5:40. We then drove to my place so they could pick up the car. That took about an hour. They then go on the road. They said that they were going to try to get to Dixon and spend the night, but I guess they had more gas in the tank and went straight to Cedar Rapids. They said they had a great time and the rental car they had was the best rental car ever (the brand was a Seat Leon).
THey only stopped at my place long enough to get a soda and for me to give dad his father's day present from me and the the three siblings closest to me in age.
They're already back??? Wow. The trip went really fast. Sounds like a whirlwind time...reunion...Ireland... and then back again. Sounds exhausting. But fun.
In other news, Jimmy Clausen underwent elbow surgery. Amazing how this guy gets so much press since he's never played a down of college football. Nevertheless, he is expect back for fall although the starting job is far from decided. He, Jones, Frazier and Sharpley are all in the running.
I think Grandpa said Frazier was the man. Or maybe that was Caitlin, but I think that was in reference to his beer chugging ability.
Yah, they came back sometime today! :-) Grandpa has a really hoarse voice, but says he feels fine. They went to dinner at Sarah's tonight. We couldn't go 'cuz we had baseball. Always.
Timothy Rouse, 19 (and who had been charged with assaulting an elderly person), was matter-of-factly released from the Kentucky Correctional and Psychiatric Center in LaGrange in April after jailers accepted as official a crudely written, ungrammatical fax ordering him freed, supposedly from the state supreme court but whose originating line clearly showed a local grocery store. Furthermore, it took the jailers two weeks to realize they had been scammed. (Fortunately, Rouse was easily re-arrested at his mother's house.) [Canadian Broadcasting Corporation-AP, 4-21-07]
Does anyboby else watch the Sopranos? I just watched the final episode last night and I am amazed at what gutless wonders those writers are. I have never seen a TV show end so stupidly.
Ed I don't watch it much, but I think they are leaving things open to do a movie. I thought it was gutless though, too!
Does anyone watch Big Love? I've been spending every afternoon this week watching last seasons shows. I love it! How about John from Cincinnati (sp?)? It's a weird show.
Yes, we are home. Thanks to Jim and Erin, who hosted us on our way out, to Ed, who provided indispensable transportation to and from O'Hare, and a great grilled salmon meal, and to Monica and Joe for their hospitality on our way home. We missed a few birthdays while we were gone but we hope to get caught up after we unpack. We had dinner with Joe, Joe IV and Betty last night at Sister Sarah's. Unfortunately, Tom and his family could not come. We'll see them Sunday. I have to work on Monday in Algona then on Tuesday we will head for Judges' school in Des Moines which starts Wednesday. We'll meet Lisa and Randy for dinner Tuesday evening. We'll be home again Friday afternoon and, hopefully, for the rest of the summer after that. Our reunions were fun and we really enjoyed doing a few new things in Ireland but ot feels great to relax at home. Love, Mom and Dad
Why is it the Mother's Day ads are full of items with which to bejewel your mom or spouse yet, the Father's Day ads are full of things like lawn mowers, chainsaws, hedge trimmers, weed whackers and all sorts of implements that can only spell hard work for a man who already has the toughest job in the world (being a father)?
I'm no advertising expert - we'll have to consult Des- but both the Mother's Day and the Father's Day ads target women. Women hope if they buy new tools and mowers, etc for their husband, then the husband will be more helpful around the house.
See, yes that's what I think. Many guys LIKE loud tools that cut things. Even if they only use them once or twice, they can refer to "my craftsman xxxx" etc.
Cuz guys like stuff with the word "power" in them. Power mowers, power trimmers, power saws... Welcome home, Granny and Grandpa. Ryan's grandma (George's mother) is in the hospital. She collapsed Wednesday and was unresponsive when she arrived at the hospital. She had two seizures during the ambulance ride. They disregarded the DNR and put her on life support, she was in a coma for a day and a half, then she woke up yesterday and recognized Gearge. A few hours later she wanted to use the restroom and WANTED PRIVACY (EXPLETIVE). In the past few years the woman has survived seizures and aneurisms (sp?) and looks like she's got one foot in the grave but we think she has 9 lives. Also on Wednesday, George's new secretary suffered an epileptic seizure in the office. Ryan was the only one there with her, and didn't know how to help her, but she got through it okay before her husband arrived to take her home. She's okay, back at work. Also on Wednesday, an employee of the cleaning company George owns rolled a company van, and the new kid in the passenger seat had to be cut out of it. I think he's okay, too. I believe that was Wednesday the 13th. Scary.
Contrary to the my colleague's perceptions, I am not an advertising expert. I know Power Point, Adobe CS and some cool words like "apsirational", "ladder up" and "higher order benefit". Sometimes I like pepper in the phrase, "Rich Media Banner". So listen up, kids. Learn these things and you can skate through your careers without actually knowing a thing.
Grace~ Sounds like it was a good Wednesday, the 13th...for Granny, secretary and new kid. Perhaps, on Wednesday the 13th yah make it out alive and on Friday the 13th yah cackaronibeefaghetti. Yah think?
Pete, I didn't send you a photo bc i don't know your account, and also i have a digital camera but no cords to connect to my camera. Most importantly, we are currently in discussions with the neighbor as to whose tree it really is. She's hard to catch bc she works evenings, and she's a renter and I think her landlord is responsible (based on other, older neighbors). The city delivered papers to her, not us. So, we're not chopping anything yet. Hurrah. We are however, painting the basement and the front porch, and laying mulch in our rock garden. I've broken our home made wheelbarrow, which made us the laughingstock of the neighborhood. It was made with a bicycle tire, an old staircase railing, and plywood, and you directed it like a rickshaw - climbing between the handles and pulling it. P
I saw his ad the other night while watching Jimmy Kimmel. Funny! I saw it at your house on the laptop but it was funnier on our TV. I guess I could see everyone's expressions a little better.
Mary, I'm excited to get that picture in our family room. I covet the one in your dining room.
I heard a guest fashion correspondent on the Today Show using the word "iconoclast" when she meant the opposite. As in, "Jackie Kennedy, Audrey Hepburn, all those women, they were real fashion iconoclasts." Makes you wince. Maybe the tree is on city property! Then you could write a tainted letter about how they won't remove the dangerous tree! Ha ha ha ha ha!
89 comments:
Our third and final tree has been marked by the city for mandatory removal. It is larger than this one in the photo, and the estimate comes in at $2275 bc it's between wires and hanging over our neighbor's house. Right before we move. I don't want to own a house again.
How much, in total, will you have paid...for all the tree removals by the time this is over? Do you get any sorta tax break...does insurance help? Or, are you simply sol?
I'm sorry, that's a big bummer.
why are the cutting down the trees? are they diseased?
yes. dutch elm disease.
p
just one more reason to hate the dutch!
We have a couple of hickory trees that are sort of iffy. They'll probably come sown in the next couple of years. At least we can smoke lots of meat with them.
Monica
Hi everyone, it's Caitlin. Thanks for all the birthday wishes the other day.. My mom said she told you about my friend Julianne and I wanted to update everyone. She fell down a flight of stairs and was found 15 minutes later unconscious and was taken to the hospital. She was in a coma for 2 days and just today started coming in and out of consciousness. When i was there today she started talking. She looked at my friend Emily and I and said,"Burgers..two burgers NO fries". So i guess shes hungry! Shes making really good progress and at least remembers how to talk which is good. Keep her in your prayers, its going to be a slow recovery..
-caitlin
Pat...does the city give you a certain time period to take the tree out? Does the house look better with the tree? If so, just sell your house and disclose that the tree has to come out. (just an idea) Check city hall to see if there is a limit on what the city can "assess" a single homeowner in one year.
Yup, we went through all this last year with our two other trees. It won't make our house look worse bc it's on the edge of our property and leans over our neighbor's house. We have one month to remove it and then the city does it for a large amount of money and tacks the cost on to your taxes.
P
What a bunch of bs. As a faithful taxpayer your city should offer some assistance to you. God knows the government will seek to assist everone else EXCEPT the middle income schmucks like us.
Tom
Pat, you didn't tell everyone about the chipmunk in your kitchen? Pat called me last night and said she was holed up in her kitchen with a chipmunk the cat had chased in. So, how did you get rid of it? DId it finally come out from under the radiator?
Caitlin, glad to hear your friend has regained consciousness. (sp?) What a freak accident.
Anyone know when Mom and Dad get back?
Tom
This Thursday???
Not sure when they are getting back to Algona, but they fly back into Chicago tomorrow (Wed.).
Why do you want to know? Do you need to compile your report?
My report has been compiled.
Ed you get no demerits only by virtue of being a fine host for Mom and Dad. Otherwise, I would have assesed 3 demerits.
Des - get 7 demerits. Mostly because of the faggoty icon he uses.
Jim, Em, Monica, Lisa and Cathy get 4 demerits for lack of participation.
Nance gets one demerit for baring her sole. Unfortunately for all of you, no one except her can see me for an appeal.
Mary - you get 5 demerits for pathetic puns.
Frank- 4 demerits for calling into question Nance's fidelity by way of infering a social disease on her part.
Pat- 8 demerits for voting socialist and then complaining when the tree Nazis hand down thier judgement.
Joe3 - get 25 demerits and is put on SUPER SECRECT PROBATION for his unseemly posts.
The rest of you - 2 demerits just to keep you on your toes.
I get 35 Merits for monitoring the blog.
Tom
Well, since I only have 2 demerits... as I'm sitting on the toilet this morning doing my business, guess who walks in with his hands covered in poop up past his wrists? I tell him to hold still, don't touch anything, until I'm able to help him. I grab him by the elbows and walk him to the sink and scrub his hands. Then I walk into the living room to see that he has rubbed poop into the very light carpet in an atempt to clean his hands. I thought something looked funny when I was on my way to the bathroom, but he was sitting so quietly I didn't want to disturb him. Why would one be inlined to stick his hands into his poopy diaper and squish the smelly matter between his fingers. I swear, a girl would never do such a thing. We're renting the rug doctor tonight.
Don't fool yourself.
A girl would do such a thing.
Mary Laurel at 18 mos. or so... in her crib, throwing her do do out of her diaper, rubbing it on the slats of her crib, rubbing it on the wall, etc.
But 18 mos. is younger than Jude. (Ha Ha)
I knew someone in Omaha whose son wouldn't poop on the toielt until he was 5 because he didn't want to take the time to push and wipe. As his mom was cleaning him up one day she asked hime WHY he did this and he said, "It's just easier to have you do this, Mom!"
And I have a nephew (Randy's side) who fought pooping on the toilet until he was about 4 or 4 1/2.
Good Luck!
Em - you got 4 demerits. Check the record. I think you can now increase that.
Don't mess with the bull, you'll get the horns.
MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa -- Police blame a woman named Butts for stealing toilet paper from a central Iowa courthouse, and while they're chuckling, the theft charge could put her in prison.
"She's facing potentially three years of incarceration for three rolls of toilet paper," Chief Lon Walker said, stifling a laugh as he talked to KCCI-TV about Suzanne Marie Butts. "See, I can't say it with a straight face."
Workers had noticed the rolls disappearing from the Marshall County Courthouse much faster than usual, Walker said.
Butts, 38, was caught last week after an employee saw her taking three rolls of two-ply tissue from a storage closet, Walker said.
Butts insisted it was the first time she'd pilfered toilet paper, but she declined to answer further questions on her attorney's advice.
The fifth-degree theft charge, a misdemeanor, normally carries a sentence of less than a year in jail. But Butts could face more time if convicted under the state's habitual offender law because she has prior theft convictions.
Walker did not know why Butts was at the courthouse, but said that she did not work there.
I was there to steal tp.
Hang her!
Liam runs into the bathroom, sits down, goes, stands up and runs out. I guess there isn't a need to wash his hands...is there?
Ask him, "Did you pee on your hands, son?"
No...I'm talking, "poo." :-<>
Emily, I cannot believe Scott would do such a thing! I hope he didn't do that in front of Bobble Head.
I stole toilet paper in college, from the "commons"...when you're a poor college student, toilet paper is a luxury! (Uh OH...what's the statute of limitations for tp thievery...it was plain white one-ply).
Isn't toilet paper made of trees? I hate trees. Especially elms.
P
Pat - how many quotes did you get on the tree removal? I'm willing to bet that there is a cheaper quote available (using imported labor). Talk to neighbors who might have been in the same boat. Ask who they used. If you see a crew working on a tree somewhere in the city stop and talk to the boss.
I'll bet there are a couple of guys out there that would do it for under $1000.
Tom
Yeah, that's what we've been doing. Have called about 4 places now. The problem is they need to use a huge crane and go over the top of our house from the front yard, because of the arch and the houses nearby. I'm done whining, I promise. I mean, about this. Our friends had to pay $7000 for one tree.
p
...speaking of that - My favorite monster movie is probably "Gone With The Wind" because it has that big ear monster and that big dress monster.
Tom
Big ear monster? What's that???
Caitlin's friend is improving, she sat up and identified family members...she also asked her Mom to "get me out of here"....but she still has a long way to go. Nance, thanks for putting her on your Mom's prayer chain.
They put her progress on a blog (anyone can do this with a relative in the hospital...it's "caringbridge" then click on visit...then "julianneokeefe"...)
anyway, her parents are international Catholic activists, and the number of blogs from their frinds is interesting...check it out if you have time:-)
Emily...Becky Classe's Mom is on that blog alot!
I just checked her blog site, she's now had 3307 hits since Saturday morning...lots of prayers!
Oh, you're welcome. :-)
I, actually, had to place two people on her all powerful prayer chain that day. My stylist was seriously burned, Friday morning, when she had a seizure while blow drying her hair. She's in a burn unit and had some skin grafting. Scary. She's, like, 26 years old and had been having a some seizures, lately, and the Doctors were trying to figure out their cause. :-(
I strongly encourage all of you to use Helen's prayer chain. It is powerful. A few years after my father died, my mother was having a hard time and keeping company with a not so good guy. I told Nance about the situation on a Thursday and she called her mother right away and had the prayer chain folks go to work on the issue. By noon the next day, the guy had dropped dead in my mother's living room...right on the fake oriental rug. Some sort of really bad pneumonia. SO they say. I strongly encourage anyone to use this prayer chain. The Lord moves in mysterious ways.
Maybe the tree, Pat...something unexpected might happen to it...
Kelli
A fortuitous lightning strike...and good thing it hangs over your neighbor's house and not yours...it could happen.
We called Midwest Walnut once to see if they wanted our walnut tree for free but they said they don't like walnut trees from people's yards because they're likely to have nails & stuff in them. Weenies. The first estimate we got was over $10,000 partly because of the awkward location. We're just resigned to the annual walnut shower. It cost us almost $2000 just to get that one and the oak in our front yard cleaned out and cut back a little. Now this year the oak grew leaves straight out of the big limbs, all along the length of them. They look like big hairy arms. Nature is silly.
Seems like one of us should go into the tree reomval business.
I shouldn't have demerits - give them to Cox.
Catherine's away at camp this week. I asked Mia if she missed her and she said "Yeah" while shaking her head in negative. She's playing with all the cool stuff in Catherine's room all week.
Well, I have to go move some more stuff (Russian boatmen's music swelling in background) My officemate Joan, who handles marriages and annulments, has been shredding like Rosemary Wood all week.
Whoops - just got saved from moving stuff by Stevo, who locked his keys in the car and has to be rescued. Shucks.
When we bought Sarah's we hired a landscaper to do some stuff to the tune of about $10,000. Removing 5 big pine trees was way too much $$$ in addition to the work that already had to be done. Tom decided to take 'em down himself. They were really BIG and some were by power lines! I put him on my Mom's A.P.P.C. and all went fine. Pat~ I bet you could pay Tom $1,500 to do the work! I mean yah are family. :-<> :-)
The first time we had tree work done scary guys who looked like they might kill you for money showed up. The main one had an eye patch.
We asked if they were going to use a cherry picker. No. They put on spikes and climbed that sucker.
They did the nicest job of tree trimming I have ever seen.
When we had to have the maple cut down, they weren't available so we had to hire someone else. Not as exciting, but it left a 15 foot long 3 foot wide ditch in the ground after it fell.
Well, Josh's brother used to remove trees for a living, and he came over last year to see if he could do the two we had to take down then. But he climbed up and finally said he couldn't do them himself. Even though he owned all the spiky shoes and tools, he said it was just too dangerous where they were, especially since he doesn't carry insurance if they hit a neighbor's house or the power lines. So, we've tried the family route. It's fine. If we weren't trying to sell the house and already spending money we don't have on that, and hadn't done the two last year I wouldn't be lamenting so.
P
Pat send me a pic of that tree yo my aol account. Pete
Pat - why are you selling your house?
You can lament.
It stinks to spend so much money on something out of which you get no sense of satisfaction.
Remember the Taliban rules that were posted a few months back...well, they do "follow their rules"...one of the female Afgan teachers who stayed in Omaha (not one of our guests, but I bought a rug from her) she was shot in the head while sleeping, on Friday night. These female teaches get "night letters" from masked men threatening them to stop teaching young girls, and to wear the burqa! She also ran for parliament, and had a radio show with her husband, and talked of women's freedom in post-Taliban Afghanistan... She was the head-mistress at her school:-(
Mary how'd you hear about it?
p
There's an article in today's world herald...omaha.com...it's news here because UNO's center for afghan studies is so involved and world renowned for helping to educate the afghan teachers to teach the young girls...the head guy was on Nightline a lot after 9/11 because of his expertise...his wife sells afghan rugs at Nebr. Furniture Mart.
He says it's becoming more and more dangerous for these teachers....I hope they don't search out the host families!!!
I read that article. So sad.
Mom and Dad, welcome home! The Mets need you.
Ed...give us an update on Mom and Dad, please.
Here's a non-word I hear creeping into usage, "agreeance" as in "I'm in aggreeance with that". I hate it but hear it used once a week or so.
That is so funny, I hear it too! I am in total agreeance with yah Joe.
I think that is totaly egregious.
I think that must be an Algona phenomenon...I've never heard it here in CB, the Oxford of SW Iowa.
I just talked with Joe K...he said Mom and Dad got off the plane from Ireland (in Chicago) and drove to Cedar Rapids!!
I don't know how they do it, they left Monica's this a.m. at 9:30 and so they should be home by 1:30...maybe they'll stop at Sarah's for lunch.
Testing, testing, can you read this.
I posted twice today and the post didn't take.
Tom
Perhaps, it's because you gave your true love a demerit...huh?
Yes - mom and dad landed at about 4:00 and were out of customs by 5:40. We then drove to my place so they could pick up the car. That took about an hour. They then go on the road. They said that they were going to try to get to Dixon and spend the night, but I guess they had more gas in the tank and went straight to Cedar Rapids. They said they had a great time and the rental car they had was the best rental car ever (the brand was a Seat Leon).
THey only stopped at my place long enough to get a soda and for me to give dad his father's day present from me and the the three siblings closest to me in age.
What was it?
A bat signed by a former ND pitcher who now pitches for the mets.
P
Ha! You said, "bat," and I was thinkin' the kind with wings...okay, I get it. Ha, ha, ha. :-)
They're already back??? Wow. The trip went really fast. Sounds like a whirlwind time...reunion...Ireland... and then back again. Sounds exhausting. But fun.
Welcome back Granny and Grandpa!
In other news, Jimmy Clausen underwent elbow surgery. Amazing how this guy gets so much press since he's never played a down of college football. Nevertheless, he is expect back for fall although the starting job is far from decided. He, Jones, Frazier and Sharpley are all in the running.
I think Grandpa said Frazier was the man. Or maybe that was Caitlin, but I think that was in reference to his beer chugging ability.
Yah, they came back sometime today! :-) Grandpa has a really hoarse voice, but says he feels fine. They went to dinner at Sarah's tonight. We couldn't go 'cuz we had baseball. Always.
...speaking of that - whether they live in an igloo, a grass hut or a mud shack, people all over the world want the same thing - A better house.
Tom
Timothy Rouse, 19 (and who had been charged with assaulting an elderly person), was matter-of-factly released from the Kentucky Correctional and Psychiatric Center in LaGrange in April after jailers accepted as official a crudely written, ungrammatical fax ordering him freed, supposedly from the state supreme court but whose originating line clearly showed a local grocery store. Furthermore, it took the jailers two weeks to realize they had been scammed. (Fortunately, Rouse was easily re-arrested at his mother's house.) [Canadian Broadcasting Corporation-AP, 4-21-07]
Does anyboby else watch the Sopranos? I just watched the final episode last night and I am amazed at what gutless wonders those writers are. I have never seen a TV show end so stupidly.
Word of the day: ICONOCLAST
Do YOU know what this word means?
Ed I don't watch it much, but I think they are leaving things open to do a movie. I thought it was gutless though, too!
Does anyone watch Big Love? I've been spending every afternoon this week watching last seasons shows. I love it! How about John from Cincinnati (sp?)? It's a weird show.
Welcome back Granny and Gramdpa!
Tom...I think your house is just fine...but, if you're thinking of a new igloo...let me know.
monica...I'm coveting this painting you bought...it's so pretty different times of the day!
IX. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods.
Yes, we are home. Thanks to Jim and Erin, who hosted us on our way out, to Ed, who provided indispensable transportation to and from O'Hare, and a great grilled salmon meal, and to Monica and Joe for their hospitality on our way home. We missed a few birthdays while we were gone but we hope to get caught up after we unpack. We had dinner with Joe, Joe IV and Betty last night at Sister Sarah's. Unfortunately, Tom and his family could not come. We'll see them Sunday. I have to work on Monday in Algona then on Tuesday we will head for Judges' school in Des Moines which starts Wednesday. We'll meet Lisa and Randy for dinner Tuesday evening. We'll be home again Friday afternoon and, hopefully, for the rest of the summer after that. Our reunions were fun and we really enjoyed doing a few new things in Ireland but ot feels great to relax at home. Love, Mom and Dad
Welcome back, Mom and Dad.
Your return is timely because I have a question.
Why is it the Mother's Day ads are full of items with which to bejewel your mom or spouse yet, the Father's Day ads are full of things like lawn mowers, chainsaws, hedge trimmers, weed whackers and all sorts of implements that can only spell hard work for a man who already has the toughest job in the world (being a father)?
Tom
I'm no advertising expert - we'll have to consult Des- but both the Mother's Day and the Father's Day ads target women. Women hope if they buy new tools and mowers, etc for their husband, then the husband will be more helpful around the house.
Tom loves to get new and exciting tools or that which warehouses them.
See, yes that's what I think. Many guys LIKE loud tools that cut things. Even if they only use them once or twice, they can refer to "my craftsman xxxx" etc.
P
I'm in agreeance...giving your husband a cool tool is NOT the same as him giving you a cool vacuum.
Cuz guys like stuff with the word "power" in them. Power mowers, power trimmers, power saws...
Welcome home, Granny and Grandpa.
Ryan's grandma (George's mother) is in the hospital. She collapsed Wednesday and was unresponsive when she arrived at the hospital. She had two seizures during the ambulance ride. They disregarded the DNR and put her on life support, she was in a coma for a day and a half, then she woke up yesterday and recognized Gearge. A few hours later she wanted to use the restroom and WANTED PRIVACY (EXPLETIVE). In the past few years the woman has survived seizures and aneurisms (sp?) and looks like she's got one foot in the grave but we think she has 9 lives. Also on Wednesday, George's new secretary suffered an epileptic seizure in the office. Ryan was the only one there with her, and didn't know how to help her, but she got through it okay before her husband arrived to take her home. She's okay, back at work. Also on Wednesday, an employee of the cleaning company George owns rolled a company van, and the new kid in the passenger seat had to be cut out of it. I think he's okay, too. I believe that was Wednesday the 13th. Scary.
iconoclast
The art of being a lasting icon.
Contrary to the my colleague's perceptions, I am not an advertising expert. I know Power Point, Adobe CS and some cool words like "apsirational", "ladder up" and "higher order benefit". Sometimes I like pepper in the phrase, "Rich Media Banner". So listen up, kids. Learn these things and you can skate through your careers without actually knowing a thing.
Grace~ Sounds like it was a good Wednesday, the 13th...for Granny, secretary and new kid. Perhaps, on Wednesday the 13th yah make it out alive and on Friday the 13th yah cackaronibeefaghetti. Yah think?
Pete, I didn't send you a photo bc i don't know your account, and also i have a digital camera but no cords to connect to my camera. Most importantly, we are currently in discussions with the neighbor as to whose tree it really is. She's hard to catch bc she works evenings, and she's a renter and I think her landlord is responsible (based on other, older neighbors). The city delivered papers to her, not us. So, we're not chopping anything yet. Hurrah.
We are however, painting the basement and the front porch, and laying mulch in our rock garden. I've broken our home made wheelbarrow, which made us the laughingstock of the neighborhood. It was made with a bicycle tire, an old staircase railing, and plywood, and you directed it like a rickshaw - climbing between the handles and pulling it.
P
Who's "P"...Pat, Pete or Phelan?
Who's anonymous?
P
now i have to go to the bathroom, all this P talk.
There were no power tools in Desmond's Father's Day ad...just some good MC Hammer talk...oh, I guess hammer could be! Did you see it?
I saw his ad the other night while watching Jimmy Kimmel. Funny! I saw it at your house on the laptop but it was funnier on our TV. I guess I could see everyone's expressions a little better.
Mary, I'm excited to get that picture in our family room. I covet the one in your dining room.
I heard a guest fashion correspondent on the Today Show using the word "iconoclast" when she meant the opposite. As in, "Jackie Kennedy, Audrey Hepburn, all those women, they were real fashion iconoclasts." Makes you wince.
Maybe the tree is on city property! Then you could write a tainted letter about how they won't remove the dangerous tree! Ha ha ha ha ha!
i·con·o·clast
1. One who attacks and seeks to overthrow traditional or popular ideas or institutions.
2. One who destroys sacred religious images.
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