Will winter never end?

Dear Mother Nature,

I am so done with winter.
So very done.

The end of last week was wonderful - all the snow melted, the sun was shining and it was almost spring-like.

And then the snow started yesterday.
Then it turned to rain.
And then freezing rain.

For the record - the weathermen did NOT predict this ice storm.
They said it was going to RAIN.
Not rain and then freeze every single thing in sight.
(They also didn't predict this snowstorm we're having tonight...until some time last night).

Last night I got 3 hours of sleep.
Why?

Because I fear trees.
Yeah, I said it.
I fear trees....especially when they are covered in 1/3 inch of ice and the wind is howling.
THAT makes trees fall down. And crack. And land on my roof

So...last night I sat up all night listening to tree limbs fall on my house, waiting for the worst.
Now, I'm not normally a "nervous Nelly" but....right now I'm a wreck.

This morning we lost power at 9:30 a.m.
As I write this, it is 7 p.m. and we still have no power.
I am at my parent's house with the kids and Kevin is home alone - in our cold, dark house with the dogs.
And...it is STILL snowing.

In a word - this sucks.

Mother Nature you are a nasty witch.

Spring had better get here soon.
I can't handle much more winter.

My apologies to Al Gore

Today I am probably contributing to global warming, so my apologies to Al Gore, the tree huggers, and the polar bears.

But it has to be done.

We are FINALLY having our 65 foot ash tree cut down. We'd like to leave it up, but it's infested with the emerald ash borer and it's dead. And quite frankly, I'd rather NOT have a HUGE dead tree come crashing through my roof on some random, windy day.

Olivia said "Good-bye tree. I love you and I will miss you" as we took some final photos of what really is our favorite tree in our yard. It's huge, and when it was healthy it provided a lot of shade. In the fall the leaves would turn a bright yellow and when they fell, the street would be a flood of yellow. I'm sure our neighbors didn't appreciate the added leaves, but that tree made for some good "jump right in!" leaf piles.

Last night Olivia also asked if we could plant another tree in its place.

I think that would be a grand idea.

A tree update...

Two more quotes:

1. $1,725 plus tax and another $175 plus tax for the stump removal.

2. $1,545 for removal of ash tree with stump....and it also said "the tree needs to be removed because it will never recover." Yes, we know that.

Funny how much CHEAPER those are. Nothing over $2,000 my friends.

Which leads me to ask: WTF was the other company thinking?

I still hate trees.

I hate trees!

It's now officially official.

I hate trees.

We live in a neighborhood with the words "Woods" in the name. That should give you some indication of just HOW MANY trees surround us.

Well, we have an Ash tree that has been infected by the Emerald Ash Borer and is dying [we just found this out]. We had a tree removal company come out today and give us an estimate for removal.

Hold on here folks....

$3,000.

For one freakin' tree.

I don't know about you, but I don't have $3,000 just sitting around, waiting to be spent.

I'm going to get some more estimates, but I have a feeling it's going to end up in that range.

If you know ANYONE who owns/works for a tree removal service that is REASONABLE...please let me know!

Damn trees.

Why trees are evil

This is the top of an oak tree in our yard.

Apparently, it might have been struck by lightning last night.

Somehow it missed our house.

Now it's a big mess to clean up.

I really don't like trees.

But I suppose it could have been worse.