Mark arrive Wednesday afternoon.  We sat down to a light beef stew later and just relaxed and talked.  Talking comes easily to John.  Each morning during his stay was 28 degrees but sunny days warmed up to around 70.  Tuesday morning the two tree guys began removing the flagged trees I wanted gone.  It was quite a show Tuesday, Wednesday, and some of Thursday.  They  didn't use a chipper so the price was very reasonable.  I had at least ten trees removed from various place .  Some I wanted down and others were showing signs of blight and needed to be removed.  

Once the trees were down they cut and stacked them to be place on the trailer for removal.  Watching them put the trees down between other trees was fascinating.  Never breaking other branches or trees.  This forest needed badly to be thinned.  It looks so open and airy now.  The corner fences were removed and everything was neatly replaced after the trees were down and they cleaned up the areas.

This is looking out from my kitchen window.  Now I'll get more morning sun and the roof won't grow mold.

The existing trees will have a fuller canopy.  The clump to the left I was told is silver maple, I think that's what Lee said.  They're beautiful, reminding me of birch.

Thursday John spend lots of time working on the laptop putting in shortcuts and making using it for me to navigate.  Then we went through the old computer and printer that Cliff used for his fire department business.  That's gone.  My old laptop is neatly packed away in a closet and another laser printer is stored in the garage.  I also gave away lots of ropes, and others things that were stored in the shed,  to Lee for all the extra yard work he did after removing the trees.  Now as I walk around the woods I'm seeing more leaning trees that need to come down.  His price is so reasonable I'm going to have more removed before they leaf out.

 Friday John noticed the she-shed needed work.  It was built on concrete blocks on one side due to the sloping hill.  After years of rain eroding the hillside the shed blocks needed to be built up before the shed slid off the deck.  He spend hours fixing that.  

 

He cut dead limbs from the mountain laurel.

We had a great dinner that night at an Italian restaurant in Blairsville, GA.  We were seated in the lower room downstairs and loved the ambiance.  It reminded us both of eating in European restaurants.  We tried different wines, ordered things we had never tasted before, and ate delicious desserts.  I had tiramisu and he ordered cheesecake.  

I built these bluebird houses from a kit ordered from Amazon.  Easy and made of cedar.  I love them.  The next morning after the houses were put up bluebirds flew in and out checking out the new homes.  

And one morning while John was pouring his coffee he got to see ten deer in the front yard.  He was thrilled.  He told me he really enjoyed being in the woods, working outside doing heavy chores, and seeing the deer.