Chugging Along...
As I said in yesterday's post, I was awake at 3am thanks to that blasted tree rubbing against the house. I was able to arrange to get the day off from work, since I would have been utterly useless and probably making tons of mistakes due to the lack of sleep. That's one of the nice things about working for a family-owned business: You're not just some number on the payroll, you're an actual person and you become like a member of the extended family. When there are problems, the others help you out.
Things were much better today; The morning was actually fairly quiet so I was able to get a bunch of stuff taken care of. I had a bunch of card-board that I had to recycle, but the recycling depot doesn't open until Noon, which is already half-way through my lunch-break period; My worry was that I wouldn't have enough time to get there and back again before my lunch-break ran out. I was able to get a nice work-around though: I offered to take the company's card-board in as well. That way if I was a few minutes late getting back it would be OK because I was actually doing some chores for the company.
The afternoon got pretty hectic, but I was able to keep up the pace for the most part, and was actually able to take care of quite of few of the calls. One of the biggest problems is that what the customer calls something is not necessarily what the manufacturer calls it, and even the manufacturer may have several names for the same part! It can get very confusing, and only time and experience will allow you to start making sense of it all.
Yesterday, the three of us (Myself, Trixstir, and the Kidling) worked on taking care of those blasted tree-branches. The problem was that not only did we have to deal with the tree, but we also had to clear all the high grass and everything else on the north side of the house. The Kidling and I had actually cut down the high grass in the early Spring, but the constant rain and just generally being too busy meant that it had all grown back again. We're talking grass three feet (or more) tall here! It took most of the day to clear that area out, but that also included cutting off a number of the lower branches that we could reach. When it came to the branches rubbing on the roof, or beyond the reach of the pole-saw, Trixstir had to climb up the ladder to the roof to cut them down!
Why Trixstir? Because she's lighter, for starters, so the ladder doesn't shake as much; Secondly (and more importantly) she's not afraid of heights, whereas they terrify me. I can climb up on the roof if I absolutely have to, but it's not something I'll do if there's any way I can avoid it. Once the problematic branches had been cut off, you could see how they had worn themselves down rubbing against the house. Thankfully, there was no noticable damage to the house itself. The tree must be cut down this year though; It was supposed to have been cut down when we first moved here, and we just haven't had time to do it. The problem is that it's growing right against the foundation, and it's only a matter of time before it cracks the foundation. This is a "wild" tree that likely started growing twenty or thirty years ago when a seed nestled into a sheltered spot up against the house. It should have been pulled out as soon as it sprouted, but for whatever reason it was allowed to keep growing. I want to replace the tree with another one, but about ten feet or more away from the house to avoid this problem in the future. The question is, what kind of tree to plant? Ideally, it should be one that will grow quickly, but not one with deep and destructive roots, which means a Poplar is out of the question.
Trixstir's mom arrived today for a short visit, and brought several boxes of baby and toddler-clothes that our neice had outgrown. She's two-and-a-half now, and her mom was just delighted to not have to take all the clothes to Goodwill or something. We certainly won't be lacking for any clothing for the Munchkin for quite some time! Between all the new-baby gifts, and the barely-used hand-me-downs, we're well stocked! Now, if we could just get the little stinker to sleep more at night! :)
Things were much better today; The morning was actually fairly quiet so I was able to get a bunch of stuff taken care of. I had a bunch of card-board that I had to recycle, but the recycling depot doesn't open until Noon, which is already half-way through my lunch-break period; My worry was that I wouldn't have enough time to get there and back again before my lunch-break ran out. I was able to get a nice work-around though: I offered to take the company's card-board in as well. That way if I was a few minutes late getting back it would be OK because I was actually doing some chores for the company.
The afternoon got pretty hectic, but I was able to keep up the pace for the most part, and was actually able to take care of quite of few of the calls. One of the biggest problems is that what the customer calls something is not necessarily what the manufacturer calls it, and even the manufacturer may have several names for the same part! It can get very confusing, and only time and experience will allow you to start making sense of it all.
Yesterday, the three of us (Myself, Trixstir, and the Kidling) worked on taking care of those blasted tree-branches. The problem was that not only did we have to deal with the tree, but we also had to clear all the high grass and everything else on the north side of the house. The Kidling and I had actually cut down the high grass in the early Spring, but the constant rain and just generally being too busy meant that it had all grown back again. We're talking grass three feet (or more) tall here! It took most of the day to clear that area out, but that also included cutting off a number of the lower branches that we could reach. When it came to the branches rubbing on the roof, or beyond the reach of the pole-saw, Trixstir had to climb up the ladder to the roof to cut them down!
Why Trixstir? Because she's lighter, for starters, so the ladder doesn't shake as much; Secondly (and more importantly) she's not afraid of heights, whereas they terrify me. I can climb up on the roof if I absolutely have to, but it's not something I'll do if there's any way I can avoid it. Once the problematic branches had been cut off, you could see how they had worn themselves down rubbing against the house. Thankfully, there was no noticable damage to the house itself. The tree must be cut down this year though; It was supposed to have been cut down when we first moved here, and we just haven't had time to do it. The problem is that it's growing right against the foundation, and it's only a matter of time before it cracks the foundation. This is a "wild" tree that likely started growing twenty or thirty years ago when a seed nestled into a sheltered spot up against the house. It should have been pulled out as soon as it sprouted, but for whatever reason it was allowed to keep growing. I want to replace the tree with another one, but about ten feet or more away from the house to avoid this problem in the future. The question is, what kind of tree to plant? Ideally, it should be one that will grow quickly, but not one with deep and destructive roots, which means a Poplar is out of the question.
Trixstir's mom arrived today for a short visit, and brought several boxes of baby and toddler-clothes that our neice had outgrown. She's two-and-a-half now, and her mom was just delighted to not have to take all the clothes to Goodwill or something. We certainly won't be lacking for any clothing for the Munchkin for quite some time! Between all the new-baby gifts, and the barely-used hand-me-downs, we're well stocked! Now, if we could just get the little stinker to sleep more at night! :)