A fun day of spending...

...it like we got it: $5K furnace/AC, $0.9K for 2 trees removal. Ouch! The furnace was installed with minimal discomfort, but the temperature in the house was 96* on the electronic thermostat before we got the furnace blower going and the AC unit running. (By midnight the temperature was a comfortable 77*.)

For those not following on Facebook, here's a potential horror story with a happy ending:
After having the big tree in our front yard cut down & removed, one of the tree guys was using a chainsaw, walking on the ground ivy. When he was done, Karen walked over, spotted something, and gave me a shout! I went to the tree, leaned down and saw a newborn/days-old squirrel pup, slight bruise on his head and one paw, but squirming around. Its eyes and ears had not yet opened, and it squealed when Karen poured water over it. The groundman on the crew told us that he had seen a squirrel run up one of our other pine trees. I couldn't see her, but I could tell she was watching us as we gently handled her baby, laying it at the foot of her tree on a small bed of ivy leaves. I returned back to the stump and began removing more of the limestone rocks so the stump could be ground, when lo' and behold, I found another pup! I laid it next to its sibling and went to look in earnest for more li'l squirrels. And found one more! These last two were in excellent condition and were reunited at the base of the pine.
It's remarkable, that with all the branches and tree trunk pieces falling and landing in their close proximity, not a one was injured or killed!!
An hour later, Karen had just left to go to her exercise class, when I spotted mama squirrel carrying another pup from the ground ivy and watched in wonder as she bounded up the tree. Being too nosy for my own good, I walked over and was delighted to see that one of the pups was also gone!
When Karen returned from exercise, she said that another pup had disappeared. When we returned later from Chick-fil-A, the last little baby had been taken away. Good Mama Squirrel! On my final excursion to the front yard, I again saw Mama at the base of the big tree. When she spotted me, she took 3 leaps to reach the tree of her new home, scampered up and was out of sight. And that's the important part of the day... NOT the money we spent, but the wonder of watching nature.
Comment?
Hmm... didn't think so!