If a Tree Falls on Your Neighbor's House, Will It Make a Sound?

I'm guessing yes, yes, it will. Bizarro weekend officially began Saturday morning around 10AM when my ten year old neighbor boy came knocking on the door and very urgently told me that they needed help and that something had gone wrong when his dad was trying to cut down a tree. Um, say what now? I asked him if everyone was okay, which they were...it was just that the tree-felling had gone awry and the dang thing was about to land on their house. Okie dokie. So, long story short, Joe and I with several other people sat and held on to a rope that was tied to the tree in a desperate attempt to keep it from teetering toward the house while a random nephew showed up with a bob cat. Using the bob cat and a Tahoe with ropes and chains, the tree was pulled down away from the house, other trees, the fence. It landed in the only spot where it didn't hit anything else, which was pretty remarkable.

However, before the graceful fall, we seriously sat out there on the rope for two hours or so. Joe even called a couple of his Army friends who came and also sat on the rope. I have a pretty sore ass and left hand, but I'm just thankful to have kept all my extremities. After watching one of the first nylon ropes snap and fly through the air with magnificent force (hitting no one, thankfully), I feared we would all be decapitated by the rope with chains at the end which was tied to the bob cat right next to us rope sitters. Alas, once the two vehicles pulled all the slack out of their ropes, us rope sitters were told to run. I never looked back to see where the tree was falling, and no chain whacked me in the face. Whew. Curiously, my husband was up in front of me, though he swears he looked back to make sure I was okay.

During the epic "tree event," we sent the neighbor's kids, their dogs, as well as the cousins who were visiting over to our house for safety. Their big male dog and Dex ended up getting into a fight, and Dex is a bit cut up. We opted not to take him to the vet, and everything is pretty much closed up and scabbing over, except one last cut. It's looking better and better, though, so I think I'm going to ride it out unless it gets infected. I drugged his ass with dramamine yesterday, so I was able to keep it bandaged. Not so much today, though. I didn't have the heart or the patience to drug him again, as he wandered around the house yesterday like the drunk friend you can't quite get to pass out. Though once he was down, Joe and I both laid with him. I even got up in the middle of the night to check on him. He's my kid, and I hate that he's hurt.

The last part of bizarro weekend was finding out yesterday that my long time off and on college (now ex of course) boyfriend is here at Benning and has been for several weeks. In an odd turn of events I randomly called him recently to see what the hell has happened to him. Don't worry; Joe is aware. See, the Croat and I have a tradition of calling B during our gatherings and harassing him. We last called him Oct of 09 but never heard back, thus a year later, I got curious and tried him again. That same day I called him, he saw Joe drive past him on post. Also, ironically, some of his training group's time at the range got canceled because of a fire that got started the other week by Joe's unit. It's like some Kevin Bacon shit up in here, especially since no one even knew he joined the Army. Anyhow, he called me back yesterday, and we caught up. This dude had a hard time catching a break for quite some time (which I played a role in as well, working through my fear of divorce/relationships in our time together), but it looks like he's set himself up for success. I'm happy for him. Joe and I are gonna meet up with him before he leaves in another couple weeks.

Might not be much for my readers, but this weekend knocked my socks off.