The Left Side of the Moon: The Tree Affair

Our nanny has been suing her neighbor for years now, because he/she cut down her tree. Over the past few years, there have periodically been hearings about said tree, but the trial regarding the tree began last Wednesday. Yes, last Wednesday. And today would be Monday, and the trial continues tomorrow. Honestly, it never occurred to me the trial over a tree would last days, possibly weeks. Good god, no wonder lawyers make so much money. Everything takes so long.

Apparently, there is some dispute over where exactly, the property line is. There have been surveyors and witnesses called to testify. From what I understand, at this point she has presented her side of the case, now the defendant has to prevent theirs. This is likely to go on all week. The tree is starting to annoy me.

I know our nanny feels that her neighbor is trying to take advantage of her. A foreign woman, living alone, might appear to be an easy target to knock around. She needs to take a stand for herself. Maybe the neighbor thought the tree was on his/her property. I don't know. All I know is this tree is miles from my house, or at least it was, several years ago, and it's turning my life into complete chaos.

My mother has been coming down to watch the kids while I'm at work. I'm less than a month into the new job and I'm trying not to let this interfere too much. I've just broached my niece about coming down here to watch the kids the rest of the week, which might be do-able. However, she comes with her boyfriend since he's the one with the car and her six-month-old baby. It makes me just slightly nervous. But my options are starting to run thin. This will mean adding her to the list of people authorized to pick-up LT from pre-school, providing directions and instructions for his pick-up, as well as Trouble's from the bus stop. And should I ask them to bring the boys to karate, or should I just plan on skipping it this week? Trouble's already missing cub scouts tonight because I forgot to tell my mother to have him home for it. Oh, well. I did book an appointment with an ENT, book a chimney sweep (3 weeks out, ugh!), and I'm well into my search for a housekeeper. Have I mentioned I've been having trouble finding the time to clean my house lately? The weekend was a blur. Blackstone spent all day Saturday at a conference while I cooked, cleaned, interviewed a cleaning woman, and dealt with the kids. Sunday, I worked all day. I took some side work from my old boss. And Blackstone went to visit his dad, who has just had a hip replacement to replace the first replacement from fifteen years ago.

If it weren't for the fact that we love the pre-school LT is at, and that there is no bussing or extended care for him where he is, I'd seriously consider putting him a pre-school/day care facility. This is starting to get annoying. But he has less than a year left, it's his second year, it's where Trouble went to pre-school, these teachers have known him since he was born. I can't just go and change that now. It's only until June, and I think at that point I'm enrolling the boys in day camp full-time for the summer. Then, since our district has full-day kindergarten, they'll both be full-time next year. And they love Nanny and she adores them. And the woman, in three years, has never once called out sick. She's only been late once. The woman's amazing. She's also a little crazy over her tree, or what may or may not have been her tree.

I like my life with a certain amount of crazy in it. Really, I do. But this god damn tree. It's driving me over the edge.