Day 10 (I have such original titles, don't I :)

July 4, 2014: It's Independence Day! I love this holiday because I love my country. It was hot, humid, and sunny all day long. We hung our flag out on the flag pole on the tree house. Jay had lobster for breakfast. It was on sale, and I bought one last night.

I didn't eat anything for breakfast (very unlike me). I told Jay the various things I wanted to accomplish (and there was no way that I could do them all) and asked, "Which thing should I do?" He said, "Paint the bureau." So I did. This bureau used to belong to my grandparents, and my grandfather had painted it green. I think they really liked green because they used that color in various shades quite a bit in their home. This is what the bureau looked like before I painted it (I had already taken the knobs off the top drawer):

I decided to paint it the same color that I used for the kitchen cabinets. I really liked painting with that paint and I like the color. It's called hot chocolate. I got out all my painting supplies, and sanded and painted. For some reason, two small bubbles formed on the top. How disappointing! I re-sanded the top and repainted, and one larger bubble formed. Oh, how frustrating! I wonder why. I had sanded it well. I'm going to take a picture of it and send it to Eva-Marie and ask her what I should do about it. I will not take a picture of the finished project until the bubble is fixed!

Tanner and his Mom stopped by for me to notarize all his paperwork for his mission (he's going to Brazil like Peter did. A lot of youth in our Stake have gone to Brazil.). While we were finishing that, Jay got his power saw out and started to cut down the huge hemlock that is near the house. We decided that we needed to cut it down because it leaned toward the house and we've had lots of big storms in the past few years and we didn't want it to fall on the house. Last winter the 80' top of another pine tree had come down and grazed the hemlock and out house). Jay tied a rope to the trunk pretty high up and ran it around another tree further away and attached it to his tractor. He used that to make the tree fall away from the house. Jay is amazing. He's so smart! So here are pictures of Jay cutting the tree and the tree finally falling (it didn't want to go right away).

Jay sawing

Starting to fall (at last!)

It's falling!

It's down.

And here I am in my painting clothes on top of our tree.

 I should tell you that we had planted this tree there in the spring of 1978 (six months after we built our home) when Eva-Marie was only six years old. We have a photo of her standing next to it, and it was just as tall as she was. It was not an easy decision to cut the tree down, but it was necessary.

It was 11:00 a.m. when Jay started cutting, and we had most of the branches cleaned up and in the burning pile in the field an hour and a half later. Jay is teaching Peter how to drive the tractor, and here he is. He was so happy to do that. Jay is really fussy about his tractor and doesn't let anyone drive it, so this is a big deal.

Peter driving the tractor. :)

Here is Henry, who we are kitty sitting for.

We had decided to go to see "The Lone Ranger" at Lisbon Landing today, so at 12:30 we stopped to clean up. We were so hot and sweaty. The movie was so good. I loved it! Well done!!! After the movie, we stopped in to see Dideric, who was working. We had a nice visit. He's doing very well. Then we headed home, I made dinner (salmon, boiled potatoes, salad, corn on the cob, and watermelon), and we ate out on the deck. It was a lovely evening; it had cooled off nicely. Peter decided that we'd Skype with Josy and we could ask each other questions during dinner. That was fun because we got to know her a little better (her favorite color is blue, doesn't really have a favorite food, and doesn't know how to cook) and she got to know us a little, too.

Jay and I watched a show and went to sleep (I should say that I slept through most of the show).  It was a full day, and I have a feeling of accomplishment.