Timber!

After a busy week filled with appointments with bank and insurance people, we decide to tackle the garden. And I decide to cut some branches of our VBM, our Very Big Maple. VBM’s grow in 15 years from a twig that someone forgets to weed out, into a 20 metre tall tree. A tree so tall that nothing grows underneath it because the plants don’t get enough light. So something had to be done. Our new neighbour, who bought the house next-door but had to wait a year before she could kick out one of the tenants and who will be moving in soon, wants us to cut down the tree completely. But our tenants, uh, I mean the people who live in the apartments above us, want to keep the tree and only want some branches cut so they don’t interfere with their laundry lines. So I started with cutting those, from their balconies with a long pruning cutter on a stick. But then I put my climbing belt on, pulled my rope out and before I knew it I was standing high on a ladder to cut the lower branches of the tree. But you know how it goes, some branches become a couple, a couple becomes a few and before you know it I was half way up the tree, and the other half of the tree was down on the ground. So now the whole garden is an undescribable labyrinth of cut branches.

Okay, some fast answers:

• Yes, I bleached and cut my hair. I’m now Alison’s blonde instead of otherwise.
• Yes, my shoulder is slowly getting better. I still have a limited reach, but it doesn’t hurt as much as it did before. Or I just got used to the pain.
• No, we haven’t bought the house yet, even though we started to do major work on the garden. But it won’t take long anymore either. I’ll keep you posted.
• More holiday posts are coming after we’ve cleaned up all the branches, twigs and leafs. Maple Leafs.