Tree Down

So far, owning two rental properties has been quite the dedication of our time! In April and May, we closed on two properties that we will be using as rental properties. Since the first closing date, we have been working hard to get the house fixed up and listed for rent!

Both houses were livable and in decent condition, but needed a lot of maintenance and improvement to make them top dollar rental properties for our area. We have been painting, replacing fans and light fixtures, installing cabinets, installing dishwashers, cleaning, replacing windows, installing blinds, trimming bushes and landscaping…and on and one the list goes! It has taken us the better part of two months (using only Theo’s days off and having all the kiddos with us!) to fix up and list the first house…and we officially have a renter who is getting nicely settled in their new home!

One night, a thunderstorm blew through the area. It was a typical early summer thunderstorm with strong winds, pouring rain, thunder and lightning. Since we live in a different neighborhood from the rental properties, Theo stopped by around 9pm on his way home from work to make sure that the house was still standing. The house was….but the large tree out front was not. Well, most of it was, but a HUGE branch had been knocked down. Thankfully, the branch fell AWAY from the house and landed in the yard. Since it was dark out and still pouring, Theo wasn’t able to do anything about the branch. And the next morning he was called into work before 7am.

So, being the smart woman that I am, I decided to load up the kids and go over to the house to move the branch myself. In my mind, this branch was small and simply required being dragged out of the front yard. Upon my arrival, I realized that I was already biting off more than I could chew. This was not a branch…this was the entire top of the tree! It turns out it had been struck by lightening!

Thankfully, the tree had not hit the house and it wasn’t in the street, but it was completely blocking the sidewalk and it did not look great for curb appeal. Theo was on day 2/4 of working 12+ hour shifts I knew it would be 3 days before he could get to the branch, so I decided to just get it done myself.

I dragged the branches that I could carry myself into the backyard so that they wouldn’t be such an eyesore from the street view. Emotions in our family have been running high and the stress and overwhelm have felt like too much for me to bear in recent weeks. So hauling those branches felt like the ultimate act of frustration relief. I’m sure if any neighbors were watching, they were hearing me mutter and rant under my breath. Sweat was dripping down my back and my arms and my face but I was determined to accomplish this task for my husband since he was so overwhelmed and overworked on the job.

Two of the branches were so large that I simply could not drag them myself. I tried to enlist the help of my children, but they were far more interested in looking at our new haul of library books. And did I mention that it was hot? It was really hot.

Finally, Tera reminded me that Daddy has a saw and that I should use it to saw some of the branches into smaller pieces so that I could drag them easier. That Tera is a smart girl and for sure my right hand gal when I’m trying to be all “I-am-woman-hear-me-roar-my-husband-is-currently-working-an-insane-job-and-I-just-need-to-get-it-done-myself”.

I located Theo’s tools and grabbed the first saw that I could find. It wasn’t huge, but I figured it would do the trick. I worked at sawing apart the logs by hand and dragging what I could to the back yard. Just as I was finishing with the branches, the neighbors pulled into their driveway. These neighbors have been so kind and helpful to us, and as the man stepped out of his car he looked at me like I had two heads. He said, “Are you cutting up that entire tree by yourself by hand?” I nodded, wiping the sweat off my brow. He then told me that he would have been glad to help me, but at that point I had cleared almost the entire thing except the actual trunk of the tree that was still lying in the front yard.

The kids were hot and tired, and I was feeling very hot and tired as well, so I decided to leave the large tree trunk part and call it quits for the day. I figured Theo would be able to borrow a chainsaw on his next day off and finish up. At least the sidewalk was no longer blocked and the yard was mostly cleared.

That night, my in-laws came into town for a visit. Theo was called into work early again the next day, but before he left, he wanted to show his Dad his new rental properties. So while I made breakfast, Theo and his Dad went over to the rental houses for a few minutes.

When they came back, they both walked into the house and said “WOW. HOW DID YOU CLEAR THAT ENTIRE TREE BY YOURSELF WITH A HANDSAW?” Their jaws were quite literally on the floor.

I felt some pride welling up inside of me…all that sweat and hard work had paid off! My husband AND my FIL were so thankful for the work that I put in! I was so proud of all my efforts and the fact that my husband was proud of me and that it meant that I had saved Theo a lot of time and energy at the rental properties.

“Well, I just did the best I could to get it done!” I replied…in that humble-brag tone that we have all used before.

“You did ALL of that with a HANDSAW?” my husband asked in disbelief.

“Well, yeah…?” I was starting to doubt myself. I knew that the work I had done was hard and pretty impressive, but right now these two men were looking at me like what I had done was REALLY IMPRESSIVE.

“You cut up the entire tree and stacked it in the back? With a HANDSAW?” My FIL asked again.

I laughed. It suddenly struck me. Friendly neighbor man must have done some work with his chainsaw after I had done my part and left. The work I did WAS impressive, but it wasn’t chainsaw impressive. My husband and FIL had thought that I had done chainsaw impressive work by hand! We laughed and laughed over the idea of me being able to do all that by hand, in one afternoon, with three children in my care. Afterwards, I realized I should have just let them carry on thinking that I had indeed done the entire thing by HANDSAW. I probably would have gone down in Hines legend. My children would tell their grandchildren about “Grandma Hines” who chopped up an entire tree by handsaw. Now that is a legend I can live with. 😉