And On The First Day, Stuff Got Ripped Up.

So, to pick up where we left off, our applications to ERCA and the town were approved.  Trees got cut down.  Big trees.  Old Trees.  Trees that provided much-needed shade in the dead-ass heat of summer.

John, cutting slices of the tree for me to make cutting boards.  Cutting boards that I "needed".
Cutting boards that are still sitting out in the backyard.

I hated cutting them down, but there were two concerns involved:  one of the trees was right smack dab in the middle of where the new septic field needed to be.  Also, it had a couple storms rough it up over the past few years and was looking mighty precarious on windy days.  If it were to have fallen, it would have nailed the boys' room.  I wasn't all that broken up about losing that one.

The other one, a honey locust, was a big ol' pain in the ass with the babies that it was always producing all over the yard.  However, it was the only reason why we could eat outside in the afternoon.  It supplied ALL of the shade for the back patio.  I was super-bummed about that one coming down.  We were told it would be too close to the house .  In hindsight, I think it would have been fine and I should have stood my ground.  Live and learn.  And complain.

LOVE that they had chicks on their crew.

The builder came by on the first day and proceeded to just start ripping things apart.  Our eaves-troughs were the first to get knocked down.

 Then came the siding on the garage.

Things got depressing in a quickness up in here.  Everything just looked so......blah.  It killed me to watch my garden get neglected for the rest of the summer.  This all started in early August while we were still enjoying the backyard and dinners on the patio.

I had built the table and benches and tended that garden with everything I had inside of me.  The garden was in full swing and when this little monster wasn't eating the parsley,

he was peeing on the ferns.

We all enjoyed the garden.

But pretty soon it looked like this:

It was like my own personal lumberyard.  Which was cool, but still...

And our living room went from this:

to this:

...all in the span of an afternoon.

And just to to remind everyone, we still lived here.

Yeah.

I know.

I know.