ROAR!!!

I have to admit - I'm giggling like a school girl right now. I'm on some kind of natural high. I feel strong for the first time in a long while. I chopped down a tree today.

Silly, yes. I realize this, but it's true all the same. The baby was sleeping and the kids were playing in the pool and running around outside. Me, being me, can't just be outside and doing nothing. I decided that I would grab the trimmers and trim up a few branches on some of the trees in the yard. It started out simple. I got the low branches attacking people as they walked on the sidewalk by the Mulberry. Then I brought up the branches on an ormaneltal in the garden that was blocking the sun in part of the garden. Then I moved around the side to the dogwood. See, there's this beautiful pine that's almost on top of the dogwood tree, and right up against the house. It's branches block my dining room windows and rub up against the bedroom windows as well. It's a very nice tree, but I've been thinking about taking it down for almost two years, but something always stops me. I don't know what it is. I guess it's because it's permanent. It's a big deal to take out a tree as tall as your house! It'll take 15 years to replace it if you decide you made the wrong decision.

No. My gut is right. The tree is going. As I look up at it, I thought I could tackle this by myself. It's 2:00 in the afternoon and I don't have to stop until 4:30. Let's see how I do. All I had at my disposal were a little bowsaw, a hatchett with a hammer on one side and a blade on the other, and my 30 foot extension chord. Two hours later my yard is minus one pine tree. Wow, it looks good too!

I feel so empowered! So alive! So, so... strong and independent! I AM WOMAN. HEAR ME ROAR!