Trees......... or Not??

Last Friday we had quite a storm with winds up to 120 kmh.  I was at work and got a phone call from Poppa.  He wondered if Kevin knew where the chain saw was........... because two big trees had lost very large branches in the wind.  They were our trees and they had fallen across the road - blocking it to traffic.  As it turned out, one of our neighbours was kind enough to bring a chain saw and offer to take the large pieces away for us.  They cut enough so they could get both trees off the road.  So Poppa spent all afternoon out in the rain (two days later, when I got time to do laundry, his clothes were still damp!) taking the smaller limbs off before he came to get me.  By the time we got home the large pieces were all gone and just...........

........ a multitude of small branches and little limbs lying in the ditch.  This tree is at the front of our house..........

.... and you can see how the wind twisted this large branch until it snapped off.  Poppa was on his way to the shed and heard it snap, turned around and it was on the road.  As you can see in the photo, part of it has already been trimmed off, but you get the idea of how strong the wind was.  There was also ......

.... a large branch nearer to the top, which was stripped of a lot of its branches and snapped off.  While I was making supper, Poppa kept working..........

.... diligently - cutting up larger pieces, and picking up the smaller ones........ then........

... he loaded them on the trailer and the truck, and drove........

........ around the corner to work at the site of the second tree......

.... which looked like this.  Whew!  The next morning we went to the dump, emptied the truck and the trailer and came back for more.  It took three trips to the dump to eliminate all the twigs, leaves and branches, but now it is all cleaned up!  I can only imagine how many trips it would have taken if our neighbour hadn't wanted the large wood!  On another note - I must make a correction to a previous post... I got this from Auntie Colleen.......
"It wasn't really a marathon. It was the 1500 metre race at the Ontario Masters Track and Field event held at Varsity Stadium"........ 
.... regarding Uncle Shaun's run.  Thank you for the additional information Auntie Colleen and once again - our heartfelt congratulations to Uncle Shaun!!!!  Meanwhile, the pile of dishcloths is growing, but meantime..........

.......... here's a sneak peek at the sock bin......... and ...............

..... I recently read this book.  Auntie Colleen loaned it to me.  She had received it for her birthday - from Granny - who knows the author!  The book was a good read - and I thoroughly enjoyed it - and it left me wondering if there would be a sequel - so if you see it - grab yourself a copy and relax with it.  Oh yes - remember that section of the office that was enclosed in plastic?  Well, the plastic is now off, and the end result looks like this..........

.... here is my co-worker - Lucy - demonstrating it for you.  We now have our own fire exit in the Finance Department.  Want to see why?  

That's the door at the top of those stairs.  During the winter, while I was in Florida, there was a rather serious fire in the foundry portion of the building, following which a review was done to determine deficiencies in the event of a fire.  Since we are upstairs with only one exit - down a hall and down the stairs - they decided we needed an alternate route in case the stairs were not usable.  This is it.  They did a great job.  One last thing....... I found........

....... Squeegie in a bit of a predicament - and just as I was about to rescue him, he told me he was waiting for Poppa to come in, so they could go on a beer run - and he was sure Poppa would know what he wanted if he sat in the empty beer carton!  Smart little guy!