It took two days, a chainsaw, an ax, a shovel, and cargo straps but DH got the tree out. No 4WD required.

The tree was about as tall as our 2 story house. Since the roots were growing towards the foundation and we had a beautiful Japanese Maple by our front door, we decided to take out the large tree and replace it with the smaller Japanese Maple.

Have to say I'm impressed DH did this all by himself. Once he had the cargo straps, he tied it to another tree and got the tree out. In fact, had we used a 4WD we would have burst our sprinkler system pipe because they would have had to pull in that direction. By using the other tree as leverage, DH pulled the stump in the other direction maintaining the sprinkler line.

I have to say it looks a lot better. And I'm glad I have a DH who can do so much on his own. Like I may have mentioned earlier, a previous landscaper quoted us $1000 to take out the tree and transplant the Japanese Maple. But with a few simple tools, and two days, my DH was able to get it done.

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Anyhow in light of finding out we are staying here, I'm thinking about going ahead and scheduling my surgery. Now if the Navy cooperates and at least allows me to plan a few weeks/months ahead of time so I can get it done without losing the upfront deposit. Its still bugging me and after talking to a friend who recently had the same procedure, I feel better about going through with it.

But aside from that I finished studying for Regulation today, now I'm in the review process. I hope to take it by the 6th. I'd really like to be in that first phase of results and they speculate that I'll be in the second phase if I take it after the 7th.

I just hope I'll be ready by then. Some of the stuff I'm not 100% on, but I have to remind myself I wasn't 100% on FAR either but I passed.... the actual exam was much easier than the study materials. If I can get comfortable with the simulations, I should be fine for Multiple Choice especially since they only have 72 MC vs 90.