down and out, but still here

I'm talking about the plum tree, not myself.  I went out before 6 AM to work on the tree.  Got the flowers growing around the tree out and into temporary homes.  Cut all the large roots - only 3 of them - and rocked the tree back and forth until - Voila!  - the root ball came up and I was able to pull the tree out of the ground.  It's sitting on my sidewalk now, waiting to be loaded into my van for a trip to the landfill.  It's rather heavy, so I may have to have someone come with me to help unload it.  The people running the landfill aren't available to help unload.  I'm waiting to see if the recycle pickup folks take all the branches that I cut into 4 ft. lengths and bundles up.  The limit is supposed to be 4 items for each pickup, but since there are 5 or more families piling stuff at our pickup area, they usually just take everything.  Anyway, if they leave some branches, I'll just take them to the landfill along with the trunk.

The next step is to add clay breaker to the soil in the hole and then leave it alone for a few weeks.  However, I plan to put the mums back into the space.  I don't have any other place for them - and not enough empty pots, either.  I won't be buying a new tree until September, I think.  This very hot and mostly dry summer is not a good time to plant a tree.  The tree doesn't look very big, does it?  The branches that I cut off really added to its height.  BTW the stones you see in the photo were a decorative border around the tree, not some that I dug out of the hole! 

My computer was giving me trouble again this AM.  Actually, it's not the computer, it's the Internet connection.  It wasn't there.  I tried the Verizon-in- home-agent - software installed on the computer.  It was a very slow process, but eventually it did reconnect me.  I think it would have been faster for me just to turn off the router and turn it back on, which is what I did yesterday at the instruction from the Verizon tech person on the phone.  If the same problem occurs again tomorrow, I'm going to call Verizon and raise hell.  I'm sure this has something to do with what the guy did when he added TV to my package.  I REALLY don't want to have to go through this same process every time I try to get onto the Internet!

Today, I emptied some dresser drawers, so that Kate and family will have someplace to put clothes while they are here.  Still haven't finished cleaning upstairs, but it's mostly done.  It gets very hot up there, as soon as the sun hits the front of the house.  I guess I'll try to finish the cleaning tomorrow - early!  My bedroom is in the back, so stays cooler until late afternoon.  When company comes, I'll have to turn the A/C to a cooler setting, at least at night.  It's supposed to be above 100 F today. When I checked my outdoor thermometer, which is in the shade, it read in the mid 80s at 10 AM.  I won't be doing any outside work today, except for watering plants much later.  Next week is supposed to be cooler - highs only in the 80s!  My family from England are going to find even 80s to be VERY HOT.