Ranger Rick?

I am sorry to say that the great forest ranger of our childhood -- Ranger Rick -- is not the man I married, but since the old ranger was actually a raccoon created by the National Wildlife Federation to star in its wildlife magazine, I guess that's OK.  For any of you who are curious, the magazine Ranger Rick, started in 1967, is still going strong.

We did do a bit of forestry in our front yard today, though, so that is what reminded me of the magazine character.

Last week, our time in Minnesota went well.  We got Stephanie packed in time for the movers to take her furniture and belongings into storage.  Then she moved with the cats into a very nice temporary housing establishment.  She has a kitchen, living/office area, bedroom, and bath.  What more does anyone need?  Her builder told her that he is trying to complete her new house by the end of June, so that would allow her to move in almost a month early.

When we arrived home last week, we had two days to prepare for a birthday party for my mother (who turns 92 next week) while we cheered for my niece and her husband as they ran a half-marathon past our house.  The race was a success as was the party.  Although there is 90 years' age difference between them, my mother and my grandson are great pals.  They make one another smile.

Almost 2-year-old Owen smiles at his almost 92-year-old
great-grandmother.

We needed a little down time to recover from Stephanie's move, but today dawned clear and cool; this is perfect weather for tackling a garden project.  As I mentioned last time, we want to remove the three overgrown cedar trees from our front yard.  I am not sure what I will replace them with yet, but I think some kind of flowering bush like lilacs or hydrangeas would be good.  I'll have to shop later to see what might be available.

The first of three over-grown trees
is down.

We started the job just after lunch and were completely finished by 2:00 p.m.  The trees are not hard to get down with the help of our new SawsAll.  This first tree fit into the back of the truck, so it is already disposed of at the town yard refuse center.

We'll deal with the stump removal later.

If the weather cooperates, we may tackle the second tree tomorrow.  We'll worry about yanking out the stumps for this vegetation this weekend. We did not have any assistance from Ranger Rick; however working with the same Rick I have worked side-by-side with for 39 years certainly produced the results we wanted.  And if we can get out of bed tomorrow, we might just try this again.