It Takes a Village.... and Chainsaws...... and beer?

A secondary title for this post could have been, "You know you live in the south when......."  A member of my family/slash very good friend had the nerve to go out of town to New England.  God decided to punish them for leaving His country by sending a very strong wind to knock down the biggest, oldest tree in their front yard.  This tree provided the majority of the shade in their front yard and all the shade for their house. It was a Pin Oak of impressive size and girth.  It was a beautiful tree when it was standing and housing birds and squirrels but, laying over on the ground with its root ball standing straight up, it is just a big mess. 



That is my beautiful daughter perched on top of the root ball!


The local utility company came and cut up the tree where it had fallen across the road and kindly stacked it all up in their yard :) Thank you so much! 

I got a text a few days ago from these family members saying that there would be free food and beer for all those who came to help dispose of the tree mess.  Well, OK!  Giant tree! Chainsaws! FREE food! And umm beer?  Most people might shy away from beer drinkers using equipment that requires some what of a steady hand, else it could cut off a limb!  You know a limb - like an arm or something!  But not me.  I was raised a southern girl and have since turned into a southern woman.  We are tough, strong, and possess a sound mind that is not afraid of work (unless it is housework - but that is different).

I put on a pair of blue jeans with a hole in the knee, loaded up all the kids in the van and off we went.  After breakfast we set to work. There was a total of 15 adults and 15 children. We had to take care of the part of the tree that fell in the neighbors yard first.  The neighbor had told them earlier that he was in no rush to have it taken care of, and evidently he wasn't. He stayed in his house the whole time and did not even come out to offer a cup of coffee!  He was probably raised in Vermont or something and probably drinks coffee with sissy stuff like French vanilla creamer.  He probably even believes it is *actually from* France.
I won't sugarcoat it.  It was hard labor.  But I tried my best to do my share and earn my free lunch, just like my daddy taught me.  The beer made its appearance and everyone proved that this family comes with class and ethics, meaning no one got too sloshed to run the chainsaws.  On a side note, my husband suggested we would have a bad future should I choose to imbibe, so I abstained. But that is ok because he looked totally hot running a chainsaw.


My DH in all his hotness...

This was altogether a full body work out.  I have muscles that I did not know existed.    The satisfaction of taking apart this huge tree, branch by branch, and seeing it all in nice piles of brush or stacked wood, was entirely too gratifying.  But it was fun and I did figure out that I am more cut out to do that kind of stuff than I am to clean my house. And I don't feel near as guilty about french fries I ate today!