H is for HaHa on me

Today my sister retrieved the two baby quilts to me and took me out to a nice lunch. It's funny passing a quilt to another in a public place. Everyone just assumes you bought it. They'd never imagine someone made it, let alone the person sitting right there. Just look at that bright blue sky isn't it beautiful?
Then off to home. Today is the day the Maple Tree came down, okay it's nearly down (still around 12' right now) and I'm inside having a bit of rest while Jessica naps. With my bad food on ice. How did I get to this point? Well when we arrived home, Jessica wanted to play outside, of course this lead to me clearing and cleaning off the back porch (someday it will look great). Before to long the neighbor came over with his chainsaw to help take the tree down. Watching them is like watching a comedy of errors, don't get me wrong though I am so grateful for the help! I personally have never used a chainsaw, but I have been around them many many times. As a child growing up in the Ozarks hauling wood was a weekend chore. We always went for the dead fall pulling it out of the wooded areas of our 120 acre property. Hauling in the heat isn't to bad, but hauling in the cold, when your hands and feet hurt so badly... That sucks. Sunny the diggiest cat.
A couple of days ago I asked DH to make a pile of wood from the medium to big size stuff that fell out of the tree when the tornado hit two weeks ago. He did just like I asked. Of course he's a city boy... Yep, those of us who know about hauling wood know right where this is headed. I knew he had a pile waiting to be added to the pile, so I went over to help just a bit. I know, I know, I'm supposed to be off my foot as much as possible, truly I never dreamed what I had gotten myself into. Short, long, tiny, fat, all piled catty-whomp-us. Some even where going crosswise (on the bottom). Oh how he must love me. Well I couldn't help it. I had to tear the thing apart and build it up again. After doing that for a couple of hours I'm more than ready to put a sign out "Free Maple Firewood U-HAUL" LOL! But I'm picky too. Don't leave me with the ones not cut right, or the y's ect. Take from the top and respect the pile. There is a certain order to things that occur when you stack wood. It's like a puzzle and if you don't put it together right, the entire thing will fall over, especially as it gets higher. There is a rhythm and order to the process. While stacking I remembered the races to pile the wood faster and faster, thunk, thunk...thunk, thunk...The repetition and the sound clears your head. I thought living here meant no more hauling, oh well haha on me.

My current thought for a replacement tree is something along the lines of a dwarf cherry, a tree that will grow to around 10'. The Old maple was easily 60' before the storm. 10' feels safe to me.

The Nun Orchid Capsules are doing great, Troy tells me they need anywhere from 180 to 330 days to ripen on the plant, so it will be a while yet.