The tree is gone! Free at last!

For anyone following along at home, the one thing keeping us here at this house is a giant oak tree that fell during the tornadoes of April 27th. For almost four months, we've been battling with tree companies and my insurance company over who is going to pay the $15k+ bill to remove the tree, fix the fence and the retaining wall that all got damaged when the tree fell.

It is with a smiling face that I sit here typing this right now, because the tree is finally gone. The fence and retaining wall fixes will be the easy parts, but that tree was the one thing keeping us from moving out and finally using this property as a rental.

So I've decided to share some photos of today's tree removal:
When they started, they had to bring in a bucket truck to get the large limbs down first.

We also had another tree cut down because it was leaning after the storm, although still alive.

And there you have it. My back yard looks like a sandbox, but at least it's minus one large oak tree. I can't explain how happy I am about this, although I still have some work ahead of me. I'll need to level some low spots in the yard and replant grass seed. I'll probably also need to get a new fence installed before I can rent the house out.

On the new house front, we're at the wait-and-see stage still. The farm we're looking at has been inspected, surveyed and a final offer has been accepted. Now we wait for the loan paperwork to process and keep our fingers and toes crossed that nothing goes wrong there.

One thing I've learned through all of this? Don't ever buy a house with a giant tree in the yard ever again.