I had two out of three of my little girls
go with me for donuts yesterday morning.
Some day, AnnaGrace. Some
day. The place was not nearly as busy as
it was Sunday when the line was out the door, but it still looked to be a
promising day for the business.
An early-morning volleyball game began
after donut consumption. They did
reconfigure the court to keep the sun out of each other’s eyes. Sadly, I was hard at work on the computer and
managed to miss these new rounds. Nana
filled in for me admirably, however. I
understand Jachin defeated current champ Micah in a preliminary round game. Cailyn was announcing and doing some
videography. It must have gotten too hot
for them, though. By 9:15 they were all
back inside playing video games at Josiah’s request.
The highlight of the afternoon was totally
unexpected. We have been watching the
growth of a palm tree in our back yard with bated breath. For one thing, it has grown so high that it
was threatening the high wires that stretch behind our house. I have been uncomfortable with that for the
past two hurricane seasons. Secondly, it
has started looking kind of sick. Those
two combinations make for a dangerous June through October, that’s for
sure. Anyway, Chris agreed that we need
to bring the tree down.
Enter our youngest son. Nathan was here for the Memorial Day brisket. At first he said that he would see if he
could return today with a buddy and get it done. Then, before we knew it, he was off to his
house to get his chain saws and straps and ropes and ladder. “Why not do it now while we have all these
cousins running around to haul it to the street?” was his rationale. Hard to argue with impeccable logic such as
that.
He climbed the ladder and trimmed off as
many branches as he could reach. Then he
switched to the big chainsaw. First he
strapped off the top of the tree and tied it off to the deck. Then he began the arduous task of cutting
through the palm tree’s trunk. Not an
easy job at all. But with his patience
and the tugging on the strapping by Kel and Jachin and Micah and Josiah and
even Noa, the top of the tree toppled off and over. Nana was a little disappointed that she
missed getting the big moment on video, but she was ready to go when the main
trunk of the tree came down not too long after.
So much for the fun part. Then came the drudgery of dragging all the
loose branches to the street while Uncle Nathan cut the trunk into more
manageable chunks. Ezra even got into the
act when he picked up the rake and scraped together a few errant chips and
branches. We hauled the trunk chunks to the
street using a dolly (After Nathan dragged
the first one out with a rope.
Nope. Too much effort). Now we just have to hope the city crews will
pick it all up. Oh, and then there’s the
wait for the remaining stump to deteriorate.
Unless we can find an idea to speed up that process …
I gotta admit that was not the holiday I was
expecting, but hey … the tree is down.
The Astros won. The family hung
out together in a “unique” way.
John 15:5 says, “I am the vine; you are the branches.
If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from
me you can do nothing.”
Father, thank you for all the little
workers that helped with the tree felling yesterday. And would you give Nathan come relief from
his aches and pains as a result of his hard work? Amen.
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