The Mammoth

Did you think I was done? Never returning again? Did you just keep checking cause my link was on your favorites or something, but each day you knew I wouldn't be here?

HA! I laugh at the suggestion that I could ever let go of a vice that easily.

No, I have been super-busy. You know, with the school, and then with the hurricane, Dillon's birthday, and whatnot. Busy.

But I am here. And I'm gonna post somethin' good. Cause you guys deserve it! You have held on through a steamy, but boring summer. (How is that possible? In Texas, it is possible, I promise.)

We survived the storm. So did our big ol' pine tree. I can see it out the window, and it is still huge and towering above the house, threatening to obliterate us all in a future gust of wind. We are going to have to cut it down. Then we will officially have no trees. We lost three in a storm four years ago, and one in this hurricane. So once we cut down The Mammoth, we will have nothing. Just a vast expanse of grass in the blistering Texas summer sun.

We haven't found a tree cutter man who was willing to tackle this one though. Most have taken a look and said they weren't comfortable taking it down. Too tall. Too close to the house. Too much wood to haul off. Too much work.

A friend approached me at church this morning. He does tree-trimming on the side, and has helped us out before with trimming. He asked how we did in the storm, and then, with raised eyebrows, advised me to get rid of The Mammoth. It is too dangerous, he said. But he isn't volunteering. To save face, he threw out the name of another tree-guy who might do it (I know he won't - he has already told us.)

So we are waiting. Till it is gone, we will have to evacuate to my mama's house during every storm. I'll cringe when I feel a gust of wind, and when the weather channel says there will be "squalls," you can find us hunkered down somewhere else.

Anybody wanna take a chop at The Mammoth?