Ugh. I did too much yesterday and I'm still paying for it.

We've been working around the house putting in flowers and veggies in their respective gardens. I've also been finding my inner woodsman and clearing out the woods to make room for a garage. So with a day off I decided to drop one specific oak that was too close to the driveway. The problem was that it leaned toward the house, making my margin of error smaller than normal. In short, I was nervous.

The base of this tree was a good 18 inches in diameter and the overall height was about 50 feet. I had to place it exactly between the house and the telephone poll.

Truth: I'm not very good with a chain saw.

Oh, I can handle small trees as long as I have plenty of room and don't mind them falling back on me instead of the direction I really want. I've read the instruction manual many times and try my best to follow the guidelines yet somehow I (nearly) always get it wrong and the tree falls the wrong way.

Truth: My exploits resemble Wile E. Coyote more than Paul Bunyan.

But this tree fell exactly where I wanted it. Whoo! So I spent the next few hours cutting up the trunk to clear the driveway and dragging brush away. Unfortunately I chose the hottest part of the day and if I didn't get heat stroke then I don't know what it was. I was laid up for the rest of the afternoon and evening and even today I've been dragging. I've been chugging water, juice and ice tea all day.

Good news is that our town will have a parade on Saturday so we didn't miss anything. It was raining by evening anyway so there weren't many firework displays.

I'm excited not so much for the parade itself but for the Little Guy who just LOVES trucks, fire trucks, and all sorts of cars. Last year was a hoot with him and I expect this year to be a blast.

Happy Independence Day, America!