As soon as Ching saw the damage, he assured me that he could fix it. All he needed was an ax.

During this beautiful, three day weekend so much yard work was done..lawns mowed, hedges trimmed, mulch spread and the Wangs did the absolute minimum any of this.  Ching did spray a little for ants but it's hard to spray for bugs when you don't like looking at the bugs.  Not sure how efficient his spraying was but nevertheless, it did count as yard work and that is probably it for the remainder of the summer.  We just don't care for it which makes the following story that much more comical.

I do have to thank my friend Tony for reminding of the tree story.  Over dinner on Saturday with both families, he asked if I had written about the tree and Ching's urge to flex his testosterone? (How could I have not told this yet?)...

During Hurricane Irene, I was standing in our master bedroom (folding laundry..because that is what I do) when a thunderous crack/crash shook this side of the house.    The noise was worse than it was..a small tree had snapped in the wind.  After the hurricane passed, we surveyed the damage and luckily (the tree) didn't hit the house but it also wasn't a clean break.  The tree was split and only part of it was hanging toward the ground while the over half was kind of attached but supported by the other trees.

As soon as Ching saw the damage, he assured me that he could fix it.  All he needed was an ax.  Are you kidding me?  These thoughts race through my mind:  If a portion (of the tree) is cut, it is possible that the remaining part of the tree could fall on him.  Or he could swing, miss and gouge the house.  OR, skipping the graphics, Ching could develop a serious limp.

Thankfully, we didn't own an ax but our friend Tony did.  (Fortunately we don't know anyone in the area with a chain saw. ) A few days after the storm, while he was at work, Ching sent me a text saying that he had asked (Tony) to drop it off while I was at home  (Getting a text that says,"TONY IS DROPPING OFF AN AX" is not the type of text that I favor.)  Thankfully, I got a call from Tony and through a couple of chuckles, he said he would let Ching have the ax but he needed to inspect the job first.  He didn't even have to get out of his car before he said no to Ching having the ax.  Like me, Tony also felt this could result in a new nickname for Ching..like The Gimp.  Tony convinced Ching that a professional needed to do this job.  Ching said he was crazy and bitched and moaned leading up to the day that our landscapers showed up.  This wasn't a regular grass cut job when one medium toned 60 something shows up.  As soon as Ching saw three huge guys, a couple of chainsaws and a wood chipper, he shut the hell up.

It boggled my mind why Ching wanted to do this so badly (with an ax no less.)
"I just wanted to feel manly."
"Manly?  How about I make you a big dinner of meat and potatoes and no vegetables."

Thankfully that did the trick..