Tag Archives: maintenance

We are Lucky 10-14-2024

This was the part of our driveway closest to the house Friday. Even after we had a previous guy work on getting the trees on either side of it under better control for the winter (when they tend to fall INTO the driveway from both sides during ice and snow or severe weather) I was still dreading the season to come.

Because a crew from the power company was here to clear the vegetation encroaching on the power lines, I went out and asked if anyone did work on the side or knew someone who did. I got the name and number of Richard Billett, called and left a message. He called me back very soon and came out that afternoon after work to see what we needed.

Happily, this weekend was free, so he started work early Saturday morning. He worked all day long until almost dinner time. He came again yesterday morning, starting even earlier, and finished up mid to late afternoon.

He cut things way back, but left the woody, natural feel we like.

My photos don’t do it justice, but he climbed tree after tree, carefully trimming or taking out some of the tops, opening things up so the sun can now get to the driveway more, enabling faster melting. He took out almost all the dead stuff – anything that looked like it might THINK of falling into the driveway, opening the whole driveway up. There is no way to show you how much he did, but I now feel safer about the driveway than I have in YEARS.

When he was showing me some of what he’d done Saturday and what was left to do Sunday, we walked quite a way down the driveway. It’s steep and skiddy with the gravel, so he offered his arm on the way back up. This old lady was very grateful for a strong arm to anchor me and keep me from falling on my head as I huffed and puffed my way back up.

Not only did he do the driveway, but he cut down a BUNCH of the weed trees that were impeding our view out of the back yard. (We feel if we can SEE it, we OWN it, so it makes us grin from ear to ear when we can actually see down the hill into the valley a bit.) He didn’t even charge us for that because he said it should have been done to clear the area around the power line.

So, in one weekend we are breathing a huge sigh of relief. Our miracle worker’s name is Richard Billett. His side business is called Ba_Boom Tree & Construction. Phone number is 918-315-4286. Email is Baboomtreeco@gmail.com. He does “Tree trimming and removal, Drop & Go, All phases of Construction, Framing, and Remodeling, Custom Decks, Metal Roof/Siding and Repairs.”

To say I highly recommend him is an understatement. He is honest and hard-working. He does what he says he’ll do, with care for the continued growth or function of what is there. (He left some trees in the ground to hold our soil, and took care when topping things so the trees would have continued growth.) He communicates well and wants his customers to be happy with the job he has done. He goes the extra mile. You can trust him.

10 Comments

Filed under Cause for Celebration, Great Companies Who Deserve Your Business, Thoughts on a ________

Today’s Project

iStock

This isn’t our driveway, but my husband just asked if it were, so you get the idea of what we’ve been trying to clear.

Each storm makes more branches hang down, making the driveway more of a tunnel, to the point we’ve caught ourselves bending down inside the truck to avoid the branches. :0)

We’ve been carrying the loppers in the truck and each time the weather is cooperative, we try to clear a bit of this. We don’t last long, but we’re persistent and we ARE making some progress.

Today after we took our trash down for pickup tomorrow, my husband decided that today was the day he would try to pull down some much larger, dead or almost-dead branches from a tree right beside the upper part of one side of the driveway.

He attached a tow strap to the trailer hitch on the back of the truck and the other end to each branch we were trying to bring down. He drove down slowly and I watched and yelled at him – either to stop him from running over a planter or let him know that the branch was down. We would then drag the branch to the burn pile we’re accumulating.

We did this four times and got most of what we needed to do on that tree accomplished. We still need to go out and put things we moved back in place and neaten up a bit, but the majority of this project for the day is done.

Good thing, because it’s 84 degrees and bright sun now, and is supposed to get to 95 this afternoon. UGH.

Leave a comment

Filed under Housekeeping - Maintenance

Feisty Fish

The one thing I’ve done in the past two days was this morning, when I got the fish tank cleaned out.  The last glass beads I got worked better, but the color was too dark, so I got an assortment of blue, green, clear, and used some of the red.

 

The fish didn’t say anything, but they’ve been exploring the tank. One interesting difference is when they’re looking for any missed food on the bottom, the beads they’re disturbing TAP on the bottom of the tank, making an interesting clicking sound.

 

So, no one said anything except my husband, who pronounced the change ‘good.’ I feel better because I hate it when the water gets cloudy.

Leave a comment

Filed under Family, Housekeeping - Maintenance

A “Frog Strangler?”

Almaz UK via Flickr

Our wonderful guy who helps us keep our driveway drive-able came this morning. The last rain we had was super heavy and caused deep ruts to form. Then UPS and other good delivery people had trouble negotiating the steep 650 foot+ driveway and made deep holes where their tires spun. We were in a mess.

Eric brought his tractor and got to work without saying a word to us – just started making magic. Within 20 minutes our driveway was smooth and beautiful again. He said, “This should hold you a while, unless we get a frog strangler tomorrow.” I had never heard this term before, even having lived in Arkansas for over 30 years now, but I take it from the context to mean another super-heavy, washing rain.

A nice lady in a four-wheeler came up soon after Eric finished. She needed to put a circular metal tag on the electrical pole for some reason. She did, and left, but she was the first one to try out the freshly un-screwed driveway. We went down next to do a bunch of errands, and it was WONDERFUL going down without bouncing around in the truck.

It was still beautiful when we returned an hour or so later, and drove right up without a bounce. AHHHHHHH!

Fingers crossed now for no ‘frog stranglers’ tomorrow…..

By the way, if you live in the Arkansas area and need someone to do dirt work for you, call Eric Sandifer, 479-650-6804 or write him at P.O. Box 273, Greenwood AR 72936. You can depend on him to do good work at a fair price.

Leave a comment

Filed under Great Companies Who Deserve Your Business, Housekeeping - Maintenance