A highlight this past week was having my niece and nephew stay with us for a couple of days. They are awesome kids and it was nice getting to hang out with them for a little bit. They had just returned from a family vacation out west and were in town for a throwing camp. My niece has placed the last three years at state in discuss (5th, 2nd, and 5th) and her brother wants to follow her into the ring. I think Cole liked having another boy in the house. He still did things with his other friends, but seemed to really like hanging around his cousin.

A low light this week was a branch in our front yard. The branch in question is huge and hangs over a good portion of the front yard. It is now devoid of 99% of its bark. I am freaked out that at some point, the damned thing is going to come down and there is going to be a kid underneath it at the time (catastrophic thinking anyone?). The branch is too high to get to with any ladder I have. So I hit upon an idea - a wire saw. I used tied a couple goofy golf balls to a line and threw it over the branch, I then tied both ends of the line to a wire saw I'd picked up in Sioux Falls. It did seem to work a bit. I got about half way through the branch with the saw bound up. I have thus far been unsuccessful in removing it. I did go to Ace and bought a tree trimmer with a blade attachment. Problem is the damned thing came with virtually no instructions, so the blade does not seem to be going on it worth a damn. I'm either going to get back to Ace or another store to look at another trimmer and see if I can glean how to attach the blade.

Another low light - the mower died on Sunday. I had been thinking of getting a reel mower and did finally break down and get one. It will be getting assembled and probably used before the weekend ends. I'll be getting the old mower in at some point, but if I like the reel mower, may end up getting rid of the old one.

Another highlight - the shop called and the tiller (after a freakin' month) is repaired!

Did not get many hours at the Hut this week. Manager was confused about me wanting this weekend off. Going to use the time tomorrow to clean the basement (at least get it a bit neater) and get that frickin' tree!