Unhappy Camper

 I am NOT in a good mood today.  The tree service company has irritated me beyond belief.

First, let me mention that there is a consolidated public service (Miss Utility) number to call before homeowners or contractors do any excavating around buried public utilities.  Maybe not everyone has that.  But here, they come and paint lines on the lawn where the utilities are.  No one can dig within 18" nearby or down in my area.  Miss Utility promises to do the painting in "2 business days".

If a contractor is doing the digging, they have to call Miss Utility themselves for legal reasons.  The homeowner (according to the website can only arrange for that if they are doing the digging themselves.

Second, the company I called to do the tree removal  is a husband and wife team.  He does the tree removal (with a crew) and she manages the office.  I am embarassed to even mention this, but "English is a second language for both".  But it probably has some consequences to the situation.

So...  Sept 1st, she called to say they would arrive Sunday  Sept 4th.  I asked if they had called Miss Utility about the 2 tree stumps near the utilities.  She didn't know.  The husband called back to say it wasn't necessary.  I explained that 2 of the stumps they needed to grind were near utility lines.  I explained that the law said the contractor had to call Miss Utility.  He said he would.  

On Sunday, the lines had not been painted, so the contractor said he would return when they were to do the stump-grinding.  OK.  Seemed reasonable.  They removed the trees and I paid him half the quote.

By Thursday (4 business days, the lines were not painted).  I called Miss Utility to ask about that.  They had no work order for my address.  After being transferred a couple of times, I reached a very helpful person who finally advised me there was no work order within a few blocks of me.  But she opened one (in spite of me not being the contractor).  They will arrive Sept 14th (5 business days) and she gave m e a ticket number.  I thanked her very much.

So I called the tree removal company to ask them what their ticket number for the utility-painting was.

That's where everything went bad...

I could hardly understand her to begin with, but I blamed myself (I have always had trouble with accents domestic or foreign and as I say, blame myself for that).  But all I was asking was for the ticket number for their original call to Miss Utility.  Seemed like a simple question.

During our 15 minute telephone call, I was not allowed to finish One... Single... Sentence!  Please understand that, in the office doing some trouble-shooting work, my co-workers sometimes expressed their surprise at my patience.  It doesn't come naturally to me, but I tried to be "Mr Spock". It helped me solve a lot of problems...

It is hard to summarize a frustrating 15 minute telephone call, but I try to get at the gist of it.  And note, I had to struggle to ask any questions because she kept talking before I finished, so this is actually an rather perfected version of how the conversation went (baby screaming in the background - that matters)...

ME:  Can you give me the ticket number of the Miss Utility work order?

HER:  They cancelled the ticket twice.

ME:  Can I please have the ticket number?

HER:  We will be there then they tell us the lines are painted.

ME:  OK, so they cancelled the work order?

HER:  Yes.

ME:  What did you do about that?

HER:  Nothing we can do when they cancel the work order.

ME:  What did you intend to do after they cancelled the work order?  I need the stumps grinded down.

HER:  They cancelled the work order.

It went around in circles from there.  I couldn't get their ticket number, any explanation of what they intended to do about that, or what would happen next.  She seemed to expect to wait (for a cancelled work order?)

I finally gave up and ended the call.  I waited 20 minutes and called the husband's number (same baby screaming).  He speaks better English than she does (and they both speak English than I speak Spanish - 56 years ago in high school, so they are better at languages than I am).

To my surprise, I got the same run-around from him.

I think they never called Miss Utility.  The nearest work order they (Miss Utility) had was 4 blocks away.  And I am supposed to call them (the tree company) when the lines are painted.

I won't call them.  I don't want them to darken my door again, ever.  I paid them half the cost of the work for the half they did.  The woman is *%#^ing nuts and the husband is apparently not far behind her.  There are reasons why some business fail.

I'm going to cover the areas they were "supposed" to grind out with "Brush-B-Gone" and heavy black plastic.  They will rot out in time (I'm a patient person).  Be assured I would have been glad to pay them to complete the job.  I may call another tree service about the stumps and roots...

But damn I'm annoyed about this!

Tech Dummy

I can be so stupid about tech stuff sometimes...  Seriously, I bought my first smartphone over a year ago and I can't figure out how to navigate around it.  And then my TV remote control went weird.

"All of a sudden" the TV On, Mute, and Volume buttons wouldn't work. Well, it was at least 10 years old, so I figured it had a failed circuit.  I ordered one online.  It had the same problem (which seemed weird) but it a cheap feel to it so maybe that was an expensive circuit or something.

I ordered "the real thing" and it didn't work.  So I figured it must be the "set top box" failing.  I suspected a replacement would mean no TV for a week.  

Did I mention the new sound bar I tried to install?  Of course not.  That might have made things too obvious. 😉.   It takes some internet access and I just hadn't gotten around to it.  I am great at procrastination.I am also reasonably good at analysis.  But sometimes my subconscious is the better part of me.  

I woke up in the middle of the night and decided the new (unworking) sound bar was blocking the signal.  The next morning, I moved the sound bar away and the remote worked perfectly!

How did my dreaming mind know that?  I suppose that, having nothing better to do while I was sleeping,  my mind considers unanswered questions.  That isn't unusual for me (or anyone else for all I know).  It is the sudden recall of a name you have forgotten or the name of a song, whatever.  

And what made me suddenly wake up after my subconscious mind arrived at the right answer? My subconscious must have considered many possibilities that were not the correct answer.  How did "I" know?

Meanwhile, I really need to get at that soundbar setup site...  😊

An Outstanding Day

This all happened yesterday, but it seemed too late to post...  

It didn't start as an outstanding day.  I had a tree removal service scheduled to arrive 8:30-9am.  Their office called at 9am  to say they had to finish a big job from yesterday and would arrive 11am-Noon.  Well, they knew that yesterday, and they could have let me know.  I would have liked to have slept later.

And they didn't show up then, either.  But just as I was about to call (expecting a cancellation), I saw a car pull into the driveway.  OK.  I figured that was the boss arriving before the crew.  Except a lady got out carrying 2 large shopping bags.  That seemed odd.

She asked "tree service"?  I could smell food.  After a few questions, I figured out that she was delivering food for the tree service crew yet to arrive.  Well, it was lunchtime and it had been paid for.  We both laughed when we realized the confusion.  I put the bags inside the door and she left.  

The tree service boss and crew arrived 5 minutes later and were glad I had the food waiting.  The ate fast outside.  They weren't on my clock so I didn't mind so long as they were here to do the work.  Everything went better and better as the afternoon progressed.  

First, they tackled the 2 dead trees.  The small one was gone before I could even take a picture.  Chainsaw, 2 minutes, and no more tree.  A 3' chainsaw goes through a 4" dead tree like a hot knife through butter!  Then they attacked the big dead tree and a 6" one next to the fence.

The crew has a dedicated "climber".  He does all the limb-work.  It was a marvel to watch!  He limbs the tree from the bottom up, leaving 3" stumps to serve as ladder stairs.  Then he goes back down cutting about 12' of the top as he goes. 

There are many jobs I just would never try.  That is one of them!  Those guys are crazy.  This is not my first time having a tree removed, and most of them have been larger.  One previous guy hung by his knees over a branch (unroped) while waiting for the rest of the crew to remove the limbs on the ground.  

Here's a pic of the crew removing cut limbs.   

Eventually, the trunk was ready to be cut off and ground level.  Boss does the big chainsaw work, always.

That's when things went from good to great!  

The male neighbor pulled into his driveway, jumped out of his car, and approached me.  I was worried he suspected I was going to have the roots (in my yard) of the tree in his yard grinded out, and was upset about it.  I had a copy of the County regulations in my back pocket (quoting a State court decision that said my rights to remove offending tree roots (even from a neighbors tree) were essentially unrestricted.

We got off to an awkward start when they moved in a couple years ago.  The lady there nearly burned down  my fence trying to burn tree-debris (I saw the smoke and stopped her) and the guy was weed-whacking 10' inside my yard).  Not that I have asked, but it seems they are "separated but cooperative".  So I was prepared for a complaint.

Nothing of the sort!  He waved and I approached.  Turns out that he had been wanting to get rid of that tree between our houses for a while and wondered what a tree service company might charge.  I made a quick pitch to him about 1) the "unfortunate unsuitabilty" of a maple tree (planted by a previous resident) next to a house.  2) That I had already done cost comparisons.  3) They were doing a great and professional job.

So I waved the crew boss over to talk business.  It went perfectly!   They agreed on a price on the spot and since the crew was already there, they could do it RIGHT THEN (after my job was completed of course).

 But as I say, my job had to be completed first.  And there are pics...  But involve the neighbor's tree.  They completed the work in my yard wonderfully.  By the time they were done, they had cleaned my yard so carefully that you could hardly find woodchips.  The previous tree service also did outstanding work, so now I have 2 I wouldn't hesitate to call.

So, on to the last pics...

The crew removing the neighbor's tree...

And it took some work!  They had to rope every large limb to avoid hitting either house and some of my shrubbery.  They knew how to rope and cut every single limb of the multi-trunked maple so that it swung carefully to the ground touching nothing!

There were times when a limb started falling I cringed watching it swing around at the start.  But every single time, it landed in the rather small "safe" area.  Yes, I know they do that  every day, but I still was amazed they never got it wrong.  Even experts can miscalculate.

This picture shows the branch-grinder machine and half the truck the ground chippings go into.  If you look carefully, you can see the chips shooting out into the truck.  The machine actually pulls the limbs into the grinder and shooting into the truck through the curved chute.  It is amazing how much of a couple of large trees fit in there when chipped.

And here is where things get mixed a bit.  I took a pic of the overgrown junk wild shrubs a few weeks ago (as "before" pics).  

Removing them was part of the tree work.  The brown spot in the foreground (2nd pic above)is what is left of one now.  And in the picture of the untouched neighbor's tree (way above) you wouldn't have been able to see the garage door.  I am thrilled about that too.

And finally, the last of the neighbor's tree was cut down.  The original tree way a single-trunked tree and was cut down.  It returned with a vengeance, growing 5 trunks 30' tall in just 15-20 years!

Boss went at the remaining trunks with the wicked 3' chainsaw.  Took at least 20 minutes.  

And even then, they had this huge chunk of enjoined trunks to cut apart, but they finally ended up with this...  You can see the big roots extending from it.

Aside from just knowing how to cut down trees professionally, those guys are incredible strong.  The tree trunk pieces are too big for the grinder machine.  So they carry them to a separate trailer to be delivered to (I assume) "some god-awful huge grinder elsewhere".  There are things I do not know.  

The job is not actually done yet.  The stumps and roots still have to be grinded out.  I have underground cables here and I know where they are through previous experience.  But legally (and for insurance) you have to have "Miss Utility" come out and paint lines on the lawn over them.  

It is the contractor's responsibility, but they didn't realize utilities might be involved in the 2 stumps near the street.  I'm glad I asked them about that.   The tree service guys will return for the stumps and root grinding after the utility lines are painted.  The neighbor is (apparently) not sure if he wants to pay for having his own stumps ground down.

I'm not telling him or the tree service yet, but if the neighbor chooses not to pay for that stump grinding, I will offer to.  That tree was cut down once before (and came back) and I want to make sure it doesn't a 2nd time.  

And there is added benefit to getting the neighbor's tree cut down (as we both seem to have wanted to happen).  I've mentioned some early awkward events regarding them.  This tree-cutting was somewhat of a shared event and gives us a successful common experience.  That is something to build on.

More Wine

I've mentioned before that I really like a particular inexpensive Old Vine Zinfandel made by Twisted Cellars in California.   My local source said they couldn't get it anymore.  So I ordered it from a shop in another State that is willing to ship it UPS.  

I received 8 cases Tuesday (I'm a few days behind with posts here - too many different things going on lately).  They arrive in the sturdiest cardboard boxes you ever saw, and packed with styrofoam peanuts.  Which is great for shipping but messy to unpack.  

Well, I had to unpack them all first.  They idea of having styrofoam peanuts fall onto the basement floor everytime I pulled a bottle out was just too much routine cleaning for a basement.  So, anticipating that, I had driven the car  out of the garage so I had room to work.  

The shipping boxes are large.  Too large for efficient storage.  But I had saved the smaller wine boxes from the local seller.  I set up an assembly-line transfer from the shipping boxes to the smaller retail ones.  

It was a productive hour.  Shipping case uprighted and tape cut.  Pull bottles out and let the styrofoam fall to the floor.  Put the bottles into the old boxes (smaller, but they fit).  Carry the smaller boxes into the basement (cool enough for red wine).  Repeat...

Eventually I had all the bottles in smaller more-stackable boxes all set into a corner of the basement, 8 boxes with styrofoam, and styrofoam all over the garage floor.  A snow shovel is great for a large volume of light-weight stuff.  

A trash barrel was too large for the bags I had, so I used a bar-clamp to tighten the bag.  I dumped the styrofoam in the bag from both the shipping boxes and spills.  Filled it perfectly.

I now have 10-12 months worth of a liked wine all set in stored boxes.  

Indoors Rain

There was a ferocious downpour here Wednesday night (we got 4" in 2 hours).  I was  preparing dinner and heard an odd dripping sound.  Water was suddenly coming from my ceiling!  I ran to grab some plastic bins from the basement.  Just in time, too.  It got worse real fast, coming from 3 spots close by, but mostly from where I had a plant-hanger ceiling hook.  

Fortunately, the rain did not last as long as forecast, so it could have been a lot worse.  And I didn't sleep well later, listening for more rain.  I had a branch poke a hole in the roof (at a different spot) 10 years ago and had the plywood replaced and the whole roof re-shingled (it was 25 years old anyway).  

So in the morning, I called the original installer to repair the leaky roof.  First, they knew the roof, and second, since 10 years isn't long for a roof, I figured they owed me a decent price.

He said he couldn't get out to me until Monday.  That made sense, downpours get them real busy.  Maybe I should have called a couple other roofers, but at the moment I was fixated of having the original installer do it.  

I was fortunate that rain forecast for Thursday-Sunday didn't happen.  Monday morning, he called to say it would have to be Tuesday.  Thankfully he showed up Tuesday.

Funny story there.  When I pulled the original installation documents from my paper files, they were only 5 miles away from here.  I discovered (when he called Monday) that he had moved 2 counties away since then AND mostly just did work for businesses these days.  But, because he did the re-shingling, he would come out and fix it.  And because I still had a pack of the existing shingles, he agreed it was likely to be a quick job.

And he arrived Tuesday and did the repair.  There were 2 missing shingles.  He replaced those and 2 others (just to be sure).

He was friendly, and the cost was OK.  But he also pointed out the shingles had been missing for a while.

Mea Culpa!  I had found a couple of shingles on the lawn last year.  But my upwind neighbor has about the same color shingles and I thought they were his (blown into my yard in a windstorm).  Really, I looked at my roof from the front and back then and couldn't see any missing.  It was a bad assumption!  

Last month, I happened to use a flashlight in the front hall closet (near where last week's leaks occurred).  The ceiling was black with mold.  I should have called a roofer immediately, but I assumed that since my attic is gets very humid, it was just something to clean and repaint with anti-mold paint.

Well, I was wrong, and paid for my procrastination!

I have stipple ceilings.  I didn't ask for them when the house was built, but I generally like them.  Visual stimulation...  But they are more expensive to repair.  So "great", now I have stains in it in 3 places and there is a 4' mildly broken line in the ceiling.  Apparently, stipple is formed on a 4'x4' support and one edge is loose.

But it all could have been worse and on Thankful Thursday, I am thankful for that...

1.  The roofer went out of his territory to do the repair.

2.  The cost was low.

3.  The ceiling didn't actually fall down.

4.  It didn't rain more even though forecast to do so.

5.  The damage is fixable.

6.  I learned a lesson about procrastination.

Good Deed

I ran some errands and went grocery shopping Monday.  But I got to my car with one more bag than I should have.  I only realized it because there was a liter bottle of Coke sticking up and I don't buy those.  And I don't buy anything else that was in the bag.  I checked my receipt and I wasn't charged for the stuff.

Somehow, someone else's bag had been left behind and was sitting next to my stuff.  I went back in to the same cashier and there was a person talking to her and pointing to a receipt.  That solved the problem PDQ!

Felt good all the way home.  

Yard Flowers

This hasn't been my best year for flowers in the yard.  Last year, I couldn't do much after falling off the extension ladder, this Spring was unusually wet, and I wasn't feeling very active.  Weeds are everywhere, and there are just so many hours in the day to try to dig them out.

And the meadow flower seedlings I bought and planted This Spring won't flower until next year.  I do expect some good results from them then, but have to wait.

There was some successes though.  There were Black-Eyed Susans growing where I wanted to plant my tomatoes this year and I dug up a dozen or so and moved them to the meadow garden.  About half survived and are blooming in several spots like this.

And some choose their own place so there are more transplant opportunities this Fall (when they are likely to transplant better).

One of my Daylilies decided to bloom a 2nd time just this week.  May be a good mutation.  I may divide those and give them a separate spot of their own to see if they keep re-blooming.  You never know if you accidentally have a better plant.  

Some good news...  The commercial poison ivy spray works.  I tried spraying them with vinegar, but they were too tough for that.  I try to stay organic, but there are limits.  The poison ivy is spreading though the back yard and has to be killed.  

Here is one nice picture of dead ones...

And here are more, dying.  A beautiful sight.  

There are more.  I use a small pump spray bottle (wearing disposal latex gloves and washing my hands afterwards).  But it gets easier to see where the surviving ones are seeing the dead ones, LOL!

 

The Veggies

 My Spring Garden didn't really happen this year.  Started late and got lazy.  But I found a list of what could be started later for Fall harvest and decided to give it a try.  And since things are warming up these years, my growing season is lasting 2 weeks later that when I first moved here.

So I have young veggies growing...

I usually hang cherry tomatoes in a pot off the deck.  They just hang down and I can pick a few as I walk by.  This year, I just put 2 of them in a pot on the deck floor, and let them drape over.  But 4 side-stems grew high, so I put stakes in the pot and attached the up-growing stems to them.

And, yes, you might notice the thermometer reads "100".  That was in the shade of late afternoon.  Temperatures are crazy everywhere!

The main tomato patch is doing well.  I hadn't planted heirloom tomatoes (more vulnerable to diseases than hybrids, but they taste way better) there for years , so the soil has less diseases to bother them.  

You can see some tomatoes maturing here...  They grew faster in Summer heat than Spring-planted ones.

The deck cherry tomatoes that were draped over the edge are starting to ripen.

These bell peppers will be transplanted into larger pots this week.  It is late for them outside, but I am going to experiment with growing them inside.  My idea is to place them at the unmovable side of the south-facing deck door and put a mirror behind them to reflect unabsorbed sunlight.  Well, it won't cost me anything to try.

I got a free packet of chives with a seed order, so I planted them.  Not quite sure what to do with them, though.  In salads, sprinkled on chicken or pork, added to eggrolls?

The purple scallions have been growing great.  They taste slightly different from the regular green ones.  I add the tops to salads and sauces.

I bought a packet of round carrots out of curiosity this year.  The first batch died, the leaves knocked over into the soil by watering.  The 2nd planting is doing much better.  I've been dribbling water onto the soil between them this time.  

My lettuces all wore out after many "cut and grow back" cycles, so I need to replant.  They will grow fast in Summer heat and then mature in cooler Fall weather.  I grow enough to always have a green and a red leaf lettuce mature enough to cut.  It is great to be able to just walk out on the deck and harvest a whole salad. 

Deck Flowers

I threw some cheap seedlings (marigolds and dianthus) into the deck pots this year.  I usually grow my own fancier ones, but things were busy.  Actually they have grown nicely and are flowering well.  Basically, color matters most and I have that, so I'm happy.

Mean Critter

Some critter at all my Pak Choy leaves!  

 Oh, that was mean...  I use them to roll up in my egg rolls (I enjoy them a lot).  They protect the uncooked veggies from poking through the wrapper.  Yes, I could use leafy-lettuce leaves, but the Pak Choy is a member of the cabbage family and it adds some flavor.  And besides, it is traditional.

I suppose I tempted the critter.  There was a strong wind-storm coming, so I placed the tray on the deck so it wouldn't get blown over (it happened once).  This time I'l just wrap a wire around the tray for stability.

And, of course, I can't feel safe even eating the new-growth.  There might be some "critter-slobber" (and think "disease") on the plants.  I'll dump the soil, bleach the tray, and plant new ones.

I was really looking forward to using them.  They were just the right size.  Oh well, critters get some outdoor veggies sometimes.  They are hungry too.

Various Stuff

 Yeah, just "stuff".

1.  Brought my electric mower to the designated repair store last week.  Bought it from Home Depot last year.  One day, the blade stopped turning.  At least it is still under warrantee.  But I didn't know that Home Depot owned Ryobi.  So actually, there was not really anywhere else I could have brought it too.  They will contact me in about a week to tell me if the repair is warranteed.  I bet 50% no.  But I will still have it repaired if half the cost of a new one.

2.  I was late planting my heirloom tomatoes.  In 2016, I had a bowlful by this time...

3.  Have to show you this...

I had 2 others (with different faces) 40 years ago, but a clumsy housemate broke 2.  I got my own house shortly after that to escape such people.  Been happy on my own ever since.

4.  Have a list of house improvements/maintenance, but tree work comes first as one dead tree can reach the house and the storms blow in that direction.  So safety first, improvements second.  The 3rd tree service bid will come after a visit Monday.  It will be good to have the dead trees safely removed.  Then I can focus on the house.

5.  I grow a lot of small leafy crops in planters on the deck.  On a good time they look like this...

You can cut them back several times and they re-grow.  but eventually, they don't grow back.  And I had new Boy Choy growing, but some critter came up on the deck the other day and ate them all.  Have to replant inside under lights.

6.  Have corn, beans, and cukes growing.  There is still time til harvest.  And some crops like broccoli, carrots, and spinach can be planted in 2 weeks here for harvesting in the cool weather of October/November.