We’ve had a crazy few weeks. We have a 40+ year old pine tree in the front yard that needed to be removed. The last few winters have ruined its beauty - ice storms causing many limbs to break and fall. The tree became such an eye sore that we knew we needed to get the tree cut down, but we could just never justify spending $1000 when we could use the money somewhere else.

Enter the scam. Joseph Adkins, of Strongbow Tree Removal Services, 443-496-1133, came by our home and offered to remove the tree and stump for $700. This was the best estimate we had received. Seemed great, but I just wasn’t ready. Then the following week Joseph came by and offered to do the job for $575 since he was supposedly doing other jobs in the area. Well, we jumped at this offer.

Joseph and crew arrived the next day with a pickup truck and a couple of chainsaws. They cut down one limb, which promptly destroyed the lamppost light and destroyed a large part of Laurel’s beloved dogwood tree. I won’t drag the story out, but the short of it is that they mentioned that they needed to come back the next day to finish the job, and they never returned, despite many repeated phone calls.

Our mistake is that we didn’t ask for paperwork proof of insurance coverage and licensure - a little tidbit that our new service mentioned to us. Apparently, they said that a few people have been going through Prince George’s county, MD without insurance, and offering to provide tree removal services. The problem is that if they get hurt, they can sue you.

We were fortunate. We only lost a $200 deposit. Unfortunately, we will not easily be able to track these guys down since they did not offer a mailing address. Although it cost us a bit more (but a realistic estimate), we highly recommend Adirondack Tree Experts for their professionalism, honesty, and speed - they completed the job in 1.5 hours!

Here are some before and after photos:

Here are photos from the set:

Tags: [Joseph Adkins, Strongbow Tree Removal Services, scam, Adirondack Tree Experts, lessons learned]

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In 1989 my “hometown” little league team won the Little League World Series. Although I didn’t actually live in Trumbull, CT, I went to school and church in the town (As an aside, Trumbull is considered the 68th best town to live in, according to Money Magazine). It was a great time for the town and for the kids, and I did not think I’d be seeing that again in my lifetime. Well, it appears I was wrong!

Jacob Lennertz never dreamed of pitching a three-hitter in this spot. Nick Petrovich just wanted to hit it hard. They both surpassed their hopes Thursday night, and Shelton National is within one game of the Little League World Series. It avenged its only New England Regional loss with a 6-0 semifinal win over Portland (Maine) North at Breen Field. Lennertz struck out 13, and Petrovich went 3-for-4 with a game-clinching home run and four RBIs. With a win Saturday over Walpole (Mass.) American, Shelton National would be the first Connecticut team to reach Williamsport, Pa., since Trumbull National won it all in 1989.

“It feels really good,” said Petrovich, who was on the mound last Saturday in a pool-play loss to Portland. “I wouldn’t rather do it with anybody else.”
The regional final is Saturday at 2 p.m., and the game will air on ESPN.

This news excites me because for much of my life I lived in Stratford/Shelton. I would love the team to bring back some hometown pride. Go Shelton Nationals!!! Go all the way!

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I happened upon the annual Forbes article on the most expensive homes for sale in the Northeast, and what caught my eye was one home in particular.

Greenwich, CT home for sale: $38 million
© Christie’s Great Estates

Back in my college years I worked for a landscape company for two summers. Many of the homes we went to were in affluent Fairfield County, Connecticut. Although the homes we went to were not owned by celebrities (unless you count hedge fund managers celebrities), we did work on properties very close to homes owned by such notables as Martha Stewart, Tom Cruise, and Paul Newman (or so I was told).

For small properties, I was able to use the professional lawnmowers. For large properties, I had the fortune of using the weed wacker/eater/trimmer. We dubbed this Greenwich, Connecticut home the “Castle” because of one of the stone siding and tower-looking-portions of the structure.

Guess how long it takes to trim 22 acres of property?

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My wife recently called me “corny” - a personality trait that must be inherited. For every 10 jokes I crack, maybe 2 are genuinely funny. The other 8 don’t hit the mark. I’m not sure what happened to my quest to always be cool, or at least think I am cool. I also vowed I would always be a cool Dad. Reality hasn’t caught up to the dream.

Here’s the latest confirmation that I am not hip…

Throughout high school and college I pursued “coolness” by listening to obscure bands - the crazier the band name the better. One of those bands, the Goo Goo Dolls, had a song called “Slide” which I really enjoyed. Below is the video.

[Runtime: 03:31 | Please make sure you have the latest version of Adobe Flash installed on your computer to watch this video. To download it, please visit: http://www.adobe.com/ ]

You know you’re uncool when a song you like has been altered and the band appears with Elmo on Sesame Street. Below is the Sesame Street version. If you only have time to watch a little, pay attention to Elmo dancing during the last 10 seconds or so of the song - pretty funny.

[Runtime: 02:23 | Please make sure you have the latest version of Adobe Flash installed on your computer to watch this video. To download it, please visit: http://www.adobe.com/ ]

Tags: [Goo Goo Dolls, Sesame Street, Elmo]

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This was the girls’ first time playing in the snow. Okay, it wasn’t really playing since they didn’t move. If they did, they likely would have toppled over head first.

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I was listening to XM Radio for Kids on our DirecTV just before they played the song “Funky as a Diaper” by Uncle Jim. As the DJ introduced the song, he altered the Las Vegas branding “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” to come up with the title of this post. This resonated with me, in part, because I’ll be traveling to a conference in Las Vegas in the near future, and I’m taking L for a nice getaway.

The DJ’s quip also resonated with me because I have been having problems “keeping things in the diaper,” so to speak. A certain baby daughter has been waking up at night because she is wetting through her clothes. This happens when the diaper has not been fitted tightly enough. As the night progresses and the diaper fills, the top of the diaper begins to open up. Think of it as if the elastic on the top of your tube socks frays so they don’t stay up.

The last few nights have a been a bit better. I’ve been more conscious of fitting a tight diaper. This isn’t the whole issue, though. One of the girls woke up early this morning. I checked and she was dry. However, she drinks much more than her sister, so by morning her diaper is filled like a balloon. So, it’s the discomfort of being wet that wakes her.

Hopefully I can get this down pat. Fit the diaper tightly before bed. When one of the girls wakes earlier than normal, do a quick change and see if she’ll fall asleep again.

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Here’s some recent pics of the girls decorating themselves. They are rather sick, so we had hoped they’d actually eat the oranges.

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Well, we’ve gotten a little snow and a lot of ice over the last 2 days. One of the things I do not like about the DC area is that there rarely are good snowfalls. Although we rarely get good snow, that doesn’t stop area schools from closing simply for the threat of snow.

Once again, we didn’t really get much snow, but we did get a lot of ice. It was both beautiful and scary at the same time. The beauty was watching the icicles, seeing everything encased in glittery ice. The beauty was hearing the “clinging” of the ice-encased tree branches as they brushed up against each other - reminding me of those glass wind chimes, but this experience could be heard everywhere.

The bad was no power. We were without power all morning, then power was restored for about 5 hours. By 5 o’clock we lost power again and were wondering when we’d get power restored. So, on Valentine’s Day evening, we packed up the girls and went to Bob Evans for some warm food. It was our first warm meal of the day. After dinner, we went to a local motel to see if they had any vacancies and were pet-friendly. Sure they were pet friendly, but they didn’t have any vacancies.

The other “bad” was that we were moderately concerned for our safety. We have a very large pine tree in our front yard, and branches were falling left and right. In fact, our front yard is covered, yet our pine tree looks incredibly bare now. Needless to say, we may have to suck it up and pay to remove the tree.

The good news, however, is that after our visit to the motel, we found that our home did have power. Strange, considering that the homes just across the street had no power. Anyway, we’re safe and sound. It looks like I’ll have to invest in a chain saw so I can remove the debris this weekend.

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Well, now is the time for us to be on top of this baby-proofing thing. Breakables are kept out of reach (for the most part). We’ve put stupid plastic sticky things on furniture corners to prevent head bruising. Last week, however, I forgot to put up the baby gate, which led to a stairs “incident” - but that’s a story for another time.

One aspect of baby-proofing that I had not really thought about was protecting my dog from the girls’ antics. In particular, the girls love throwing their food during meal times. If you’ve seen pictures of the girls with food all over their faces, just be aware that more food usually lands in their chairs or on the floor. Well, for the most part, this has been a wonderfully symbiotic relationship, because the dog eats all of the food that the girls throw on the floor. There are two problems with this, however. One, the dog often ends up with food stuck in his coat. Mandarin oranges and mac-and-cheese often tend to stick in the dog’s hair. More troubling, however, has been when the girls throw their sippy cups onto the floor. Let’s just say that sometimes the cup hits the dog on the back.

So, below is my attempt to doggy-proof. Take the girls’ little toy thingie that stays on the high chair tray and hang the sippy cup right off of it. This has saved our dog from countless bumps and bruises. Unfortunately, he still has a colorful coat.

Before

After

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It’s been hard to keep up with all that has been going on in the Fay household. The girls are walking all over the place now, although they do walk like Bambi - a bit wobbly. However, walking is more of the norm now than crawling or cruising.

We experienced some wonderful moments recently now that the girls understand the concept of kissing. The girls now love to kiss Mom and Dad - and even more exciting - each other. If we hold the girls, Iz will keep leaning over to give Emmy kiss after kiss on the lips.

It’s these precious moments that can make my week.

On another note, the girls have been playing dress up with Mom. Who looks like our long lost Jamaican daughter?

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