Thursday: Ash Street Project Takes Trees

It's been a hectic week, but I don't feel like I'm getting anything done. I think that's partly because I've been bouncing back and forth between tasks. Take yesterday, for example. I got off to a good start, updating blogs, when I heard thunder.

That stopped any work on the computers. The lightning that goes with thunder doesn't mix well with electronics. So, I picked up a pencil-and-paper project before going through about a half-dozen books about Julius Caesar, Herod, and Hannibal. Then back to the blogs.

Today was off to a good start, although I got distracted in the morning. Our son and I spent quite a bit of time watching the three old elms in front of the house get cut down. I'm going to miss those old trees.



On the other hand, we've got a much better view of the western sky, and probably avoided a very unpleasant surprise. The guy who was using the saw told me that when he got through the tree's hard shell, a few inches thick, there wasn't any resistance. And, water started pouring out. That tree was rotting on the inside. At least this way, we had a skilled crew to bring it down in a controlled way.

#3 daughter had a good idea this morning. She realized that the young man out front was doing heavy work in what was shaping up to be a hot summer day, so she decided to start a batch of cookies. With some assistance from my wife, they got made, along with a pitcher of lemonade.



My wife's the one who actually took a small fold-up table with the fixings on it out, got the young man's attention with a definite "hey!" and let him know that there were snacks available.



Somewhat later, he told me, "good food," with a cookie in one hand. His enunciation was a little muffled, since he was getting the words out around another cookie. I'm glad this household was able to put out some food. Those guys work hard.

I spent over an hour at the small publishing house where I used to work, sorting out some software and data handling issues they had. Next stop was the post office, to get some things mailed.

The rest of the day and evening was punctuated with severe thunderstorm watches and warnings: none of which did more than drop quite a bit of rain on us, happily.

Now, I should start finishing yesterday's entry in the Sauk Centre Journal.