Another birthday for me but not for tree

So it was my birthday Monday and the first thing I did was wake up way too early so I could be there when the tree man arrived. We had a tree in our backyard that had been slowly dying since we moved in due, I believe, to termites. Earlier this Spring there was one main branch that was still alive but by the end of summer it was all dead. It was just as well. The root system is very close to the surface and I was constantly cutting down little painfully thorny tree sprouts all over the lawn. That whole corner of the yard is over grown anyway so when the tree man came I had him pull out to bushes as well. They were covered in morning glory vines and only added to the overgrowness of the yard. So after an hour or so of pulling and a couple of exchanges that drifted dangerously close to sexual harassment the tree and bushes were gone.


It didn't occur to me to take a "before" shot so I did my best to recreate it for you.


I hope this gives you an idea of how it looked before.

It's still a mess back there but already it feels like there is more space and I can't wait to get it all cleared out. In fact, I may clear out some more.


I've got my eye on you, pine tree!

Jaaromy and I already got our birthday presents last month when we got new motherboards, processors, and memory for our computers(Can't you tell how much faster I was able to post this?), but Jaaromy still got me something. He picked up dinner at Ab's and got me donuts, flowers, and Reese's Peanut Butter cups.


As you can see, the box of donuts is empty. Don't worry, I didn't eat them all. But aren't the flowers pretty? I thought all my vases were still packed away and I was resigned to watch my flowers wilt overnight. But it turns out that I had some vases on my dresser in our bedroom. I guess I'm just so used to looking at all the clutter on my dresser that I've forgotten what's actually on it. So I put the flowers in with the plant food and they look beautiful!

Not a bad birthday. I'd like to thank all six of you who went to the trouble of giving me a call. A few of you said Happy Birthday on Facebook which is okay too, I guess. ;)