Why I Oughta...

This was the view looking out from our family room up until last Friday.  Lots of Blue Spruce in the way.  It was pretty, too.  In the winter, snow would pile up on the strong branches.  We'd have some wildlife making their home in the trees.  We liked it.  Unfortunately, they had to go. The tree company made quick work by cutting out the bottoms of the trees and climbing up them.  I was surprised by the size of their saws - they were small - but I suppose that's because they're dangling from ropes as they climb. They moved fast.  The first tree was toppled in 10 minutes or less.   Removing all the branches makes sawing the stumps off easier, I suppose. After the "back" tree was done, they went to work on the larger "front" tree.   And like that...they were gone.  The crew cleaned up the yard while one member ground the stumps. They were good trees.  They'll be missed.  We'll replant something similar in some portion of our yard.  

Last week, I shared my "vision" for our new garage - based on another simple garage I saw across town.  It was mostly 'dreaming' - but now we're moving into the 'action' stage of the process.  Just yesterday I received the preliminary drawings for the garage.  Some things need to change a bit - like the roof pitch and window locations, but for the most part we're on our way.  Equation Boy/Man has received his preliminary drawings as well and is making some modifications.   Up next is the yard preparation and bidding of the job.  We're going to bid them together (ours + Equation Boy/Man's) because we live 7 houses away and there **should** be some economies of scale that can be captured by the good guys - us.

We've decided to move on to building a garage this summer.  Yeah...our house DOES NOT HAVE ONE.  Somehow, when we bought the house, there were so many glaring issues/problems that the fact that there wasn't a garage didn't seem like that big of a deal.  When ceilings in a few rooms are falling in, I suppose the lack of a garage doesn't jump out at you as a huge issue. Now that we've remedied **most** of the issues in the house, my thoughts turn outdoors.  This was our first winter in the house and getting in cold icy cars every morning isn't fun, so a garage it shall be! Both Equation Boy/Man and I are going through the process together (they need a garage, too!), and our garages are going to be fairly similar, but with some minor modifications.  They have a driveway from the front of their house, whereas we'll use the alley.   They have a wider lot than us. They want some dormers to make it pretty, I want height to protect the yard from the sun.  (I'

This morning was the first morning in a year and a half that I've truly appreciated having a garage!