The Bane of My Existence

This tree.

This tree. . .

has been the bane of my existence. It used to be alive, but it died sometime after we moved to the U.P. but before we moved into the new house. It's been a thorn in my flesh every day - every day since moving in. It just stood there - ugly - dead - perfectly framed as I looked through one of the patio doors in the great room - taunting me. 

Until Tuesday. . . when my darling hubby grabbed his trusty Husqvarna chain saw and set out to eradicate my thorn.

He began by trimming off some of the lower branches. See the orange tape around the tree? He went around marking dead trees when the leaves were still on the trees. That would enable him to find the dead ones he wanted to remove this fall, as once the leaves dropped, many of the live ones would also look dead.

After removing some branches to enable him to get closer to the base, he began working low to the ground on the trunk.

After cutting down hundreds of trees on this property, Steve always says that you can't be too careful. You can do your best to make the tree fall exactly where you want, but you never know for sure where it's going to fall. You better be alert and prepared to move quickly. . . if the need arises. . . and. . . this time. . . the need arose.

Thankfully, it wasn't a huge tree and he escaped unscathed. He then set about cleaning up the mess.

The view is much improved.

All that remains today is a small stump.

This. . .

is now this.

Since Wednesday was also a beautiful day, he decided to wash the trapezoids. These babies are high - really high, so we bought some of that Windex window cleaner that you attach to a garden hose. 

Steve was able to stand on the ground below to do the job. It will be a tad bit easier after our deck is there.

There's a little switch on the top of the Windex bottle. First, you turn it to rinse - and rinse. Then, you turn it to clean - and clean. 

Lastly, you turn it back to rinse - and rinse again. 

We had enough in the bottle to also do the patio doors, the master bedroom picture window, the dining room picture window, and the garage doors and windows. We were quite pleased with the results. My thorn is gone and the windows are clean before winter sets in.

All is well in the Keweenaw.