I’m certain that you have all heard the old expression, “When Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” After Hurricane Michael, Cader IV politely told me that Riverview makes no money on mine and Martha’s home, and that it would have to come last. Having grown up with me in this business, Martha completely understood, but it was difficult living in a tangle of down trees while all of the Lodge grounds were being cleaned up.

In Cader IV’s defense, he came over personally with a dozer and a chain saw after a couple of weeks and did a tremendous job of cleaning up the worst of the mess. However, we now have no sprinkler system and just spotty patches of our beautiful grass left. I believe that the thing that hurt me the most was losing some type of ornamental Magnolia that my Dad had planted. Every time that I sat on the porch and looked at that pretty tree, it reminded me of Pop. While it was a miracle that not a single tree hit our house, we had some standing that were leaning precariously close to the house.

When I mentioned those trees to Cader IV, he referred to them as “widow makers”, and did not want to tackle them. Either due to the slope they were on or the fact that they were lodged in other trees made them impossible for him to know which way the tree would kick back. Since Cader was my succession plan, no tree was worth risking his life. Beside that, I also love him.

We have a very professional tree service company out of Thomasville, Ga. that arrived yesterday with big cranes, booms, stump grinders, and climbing equipment. Between 8:30AM-4:30PM, they really did an outstanding job on my yard. Unbeknownst to me, the Queen of the House had decided that she not only wanted the dangerous trees removed, but she wanted every tree in our yard taken down that could ever fall and hit our house.

Dang, I love trees, but I love Martha more. I did remind her that trees provide a lot of shade in the summer, lower our utility costs, and that it was going to be hotter than Hades sitting on our porch in July. She just grinned like a mule eating briars, and told them to keep cutting until she said stop. I guess that a tornado might be able to snatch a tree out of the ground and deposit it 300+ yards farther on to our house, but no tree is just going to blow over and fall on our house.

We are running wide open now, and the hunting is going great. If any of you folks living in blizzard conditions want to see some green grass (but not in my yard), give us a call. In the meantime, stay safe and warm.