Surprise!

Well it was a surprise to me anyway. :-) Last week Mom spotted two new stems coming up in my garden and we had no idea what they could be. Then, not knowing the significance, Dad cut out an article in the paper for me about Hurricane (or Surprise) Lilies. He just thought it was interesting. Well looky what we have here! They certainly were a Surprise. Fascinating in fact!



This was also the week of the tree removal. :-( None of us was happy about it but as the insurance companies all assured us our tree problems were "acts of God" Neighbor Man and Lady figured the choice had been made for them. Sigh.

I spent most of the day outside with my camera watching the action and commiserating across the fence with Neighbor Man. The tree people made efficient work of it with a crane and chain saws. The crane work took only two hours. Cutting it up and taking it away took the rest of the day.

First the smaller pecan was trimmed before it could become a problem. Poor neighbors. The tree is on their property but hanging over my shed. So they worry. We're grateful for their concern.

Then they started on the larger one, with the crane. Most of the pieces were as big as trees all by themselves. We were all fascinated by both the skill of the crane operator and the bravery of the man being hauled up to the top of the tree to rope the limbs. I just missed taking the best photo of him dangling high over the tree. It must have been a very cool view! The limbs never swung freely in the air. Close as the houses are, there was never any danger. And the limbs were so very gently placed down in our side yard to be cut up. What a mess, with the pecans and all. They did an amazing clean up job too!

Nakedness....sigh.

You can see the problem when you observe this much smaller pecan tree way in the back of our yard. It's weeping from the weight of the pecans. Almost nothing is left standing straight up! It's young so I suspect it won't break.



The dogs were tired out from all the excitement. :-)

During the lulls in the action we took a stroll through Neighbor Man's lovely garden.


And took a few photos on my side of the fence as well.


Some of the crazy cosmos is finally blooming, though it was blown over by the nor'easter this week. Darned thing was about seven feet high! Nuts! :-)



Photos of the Heart of the Carolinas Stash Dash later! :-)