three cheers for RAYNOR SHINE tree service!

finding a tree service right now is nearly impossible. monday i spent the better portion of the day doing just that.


the numbers in the phone book either ring busy, no one answers OR their voice mailbox is full.


i finally gave up and left jana's house, headed home to report to bobby.


on the way, i spotted a tree removal service busy at work on another street and so i sloshed through the backyard and found their lead guy. he actually got in jana's jeep and came with me to survey the damage.


when we pulled in the driveway, bobby was talking to some OTHER tree guys and was getting ready to sign the paperwork. of course, i'm thinking 'STOP...WHAT IF THIS GUY IS CHEAPER????' lol


but 'my guy' looked at the size of the trees & their location and said there was NO WAY he could handle the job.


and so began our day of tree removal via RAYNOR SHINE.


they had JUST come in from florida with their caravan of trucks & cranes and when they exited off I-45, our house was the first house that they stopped at!


once more, WE ARE SO THANKFUL! they had the equipment, the experience & they just ARRIVED at our door.


of course, the bill was hefty...but so were the trees :) nanny, we love you!


here are some photos of the process:

they then moved on to the beanstalk (oak tree). this proved to be trickier than anyone thought. they started from the front of the house and removed the top portion of the tree:

then they started working on the back side of the tree. there was a lot of head scratching and 'ideas' being tossed back and forth and i have to admit that made me a little nervous LOL but they eventually decided to NOT lift the tree over the entire house but instead to use the neighbor's driveway and pull another crane in from the side.
i love this shot:
the next picture just amazes me. the weight of the tree crushed the chimney. the upper portion of the tree put holes all through our roof. but when they cut the top of the beanstalk off, we were then able to see that this small portion of chimney was actually supporting the weight of the tree. if the tree had fallen just to the left or just to the right, it's likely it would have just continued to come straight through the roof. and again...one word: THANKFUL.




while all of this was going on, alexis & uncle mark were preparing to head back home to cleveland to enjoy some family time before school starts back in session.

here's a shot of lexi saying goodbye to hudson & then they're off:

and one final note from this eventful day...

just a word of caution for my loved ones...

when wearing low-rise capris, if you choose to sit down on the curb to watch the 'show,' don't think for a second that you are safe from the FIRE ANTS. they can still get in.

i had this sudden realization that something was VERY, VERY wrong and handed my camera off to austin...booking for the bathroom. LOL.

i literally had ANTS IN MY PANTS...and if you've not ever had the joy of experiencing fire ants then there is just no possible way of me communicating to you what this felt like :) OUCH!