Sunday, March 8, 2009

Going, going, gone.

Forgive the parlous state of blogging this week - I have spent the whole week being mum, taxi-driver, cook, nursemaid, housewife and general dogs body. It's been a busy one.

Have I ever shown you this tree at the front of our house? We have nurtured this tree over the 12 years we have lived here - it was a scrawny unsightly tree when we first came here, but it grew into a very majestic looking one - especially at Christmas when it was decorated very tastefully with lights. Even when a different tree fell over into our garden, squashing both cars, I was more concerned for the well being of This Tree. (It has to be said that Mr Stressy was more concerned about the cars).

Anyway, for some time now, The Tree has looked poorly. It has got that disease that seems to affect leylandi. It looked less than perfect, so Mr Stressy said it had to come down (we don't want it to suffer) I must say at this point that only perfect things are allowed in our garden, nothing is allowed to be out of place, whilst I can have yarn and all sorts of mess inside, nothing like that is allowed outside. I have nothing to do with the garden. I am a very messy person, neat and tidy are not words I associate with!

So out came the chain saw...

... and down came The Tree.

It has left a big gap in the front garden, but one which I think we will get used to. I think.

And just in case you think no knitting has taken place this week, here is the progress of the sock. I have not enjoyed turning the heel. It is different to any others I've done. Not so easy - not that I find turning a heel easy anyway.


And I think I have a cake to do this week, then Mother-in-Law is coming next week, so I can see very little knitting taking place now for a fortnight. Not good news!

Has anyone seen Mr Stressy's car keys? He seems to have lost them - but surprise, surprise, he says he gave them to me and that I'm the one that's lost them. Hmm...

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Word Verification: shbok. Sounds just like swearing about that tree! Oh how I sympathise. We had to have our glorious conker tree taken down a few years ago. It had conker cancer. We had grown it from a conker. Fortunately we now have son of conker growing nearby, and we have a bit of conker trunk in the garden! That sock looks way too complicated!! Going to OZ/NZ for six weeks just over a week's time. A mix of panic and excitement. Look forward to catching up when we get back end of April!!!

Locket Pocket said...

Poor tree! But you will get used to the gap I'm sure. Your sock is looking fab! I'm on to sock number 3 now in the made multi-coloured pastel wool - just doing the heel now.

Make sure you insist on knitting time too!

Lucy xx

Quinn said...

I do empathize - I find it very difficult to take down trees around the house.

It may make you feel a bit better, though, if I tell you that I have a white pine over 100' tall, leaning over my roof (because that was the best place to find sunlight, everywhere else was trees) and it must be removed this Spring. I've had two estimates; the lower estimate was 1300$US.

This tree could produce lovely pine lumber of the sort one rarely sees because most white pine is no longer allowed to grow to such dimensions before harvesting. This is the sort of tree that used to belong to the King of England, even though it was growing in the "US" - at that time, "the colonies"! Sadly, this particular tree will be more or less wasted - the market is terrible, and I even looked into having it sawn into lumber for my own use, but the additional cost would be prohibitive and I'd have to build a barn just to use the wood. All in all, if there is a non-wasteful way to harvest and utilize this tree, I have been unable to find it. It makes me feel sick - it truly does.

trash said...

Farewell good and faithful tree, you have served us well.



(Lovely bit of sockage Missus)

Kitty said...

Is it a lot lighter now the tree has gone? I'll never forget when we lost a tree, I couldn't believe how much lighter everything looked indoors! Didn't realise it had been cutting out so much light.

The sock is still very pretty - good luck with the heel.

And good luck with the MiL too. And Mr S finding his car keys. I bet they're wherever he left them ;-) x

Unknown said...

Oh wow - I am such a sock novice - that this one of yours looks amazing!! love all the colouring in it! Boo.

wonderwoman said...

isn't it amazing that when men lose things its our fault!!!

Mrs Moog said...

Excellent bit of lumberjacking there Mr StashBasket. If you fancy popping round here and doing the same with our cherry tree we'd be much obliged, ta!

Gorgeous sockiness. I'm pleased to report high levels of socking here - 1 pair finished for me, 1 pair started and finished for Minx and three quarters of a pair done for Monster....and two balls of Colinette calling to me from my little stash basket :-)

xxx