It has been a busy morning here.  I’ve got several major updates to share.

1.  We’ve decided that this year’s tax refund is going entirely to windows – specifically 3 that affect one room down in the basement.  I called the window people this morning to schedule the visit for measuring them, and am waiting for a call back.

2.  I got a call from my ex-wife.  Our daughter (who is *ahem* over 21) had recently gone down to Texas with her boyfriend.  She had a job up here that she transferred to a location down there so she could stay with her boyfriend, who wanted to get “closer to home” to look for work down there.

UPDATE:  After they got to Texas, her boyfriend hooked up with a gal he knew back in high school (or some such) and they paid for my daughter to get a bus back to her mom’s house.  She is now nearly homeless (nobody around has room to put her up for very long) and jobless, and it sounds like she lost nearly everything she took to Texas with her.

3.  The city we live in is under an order from KDOT to put a sidewalk in along the 4-lane road that runs right in front of our house.  One of the city councilmen stopped by here a few weeks ago to talk to my wife and I about the plans, and told us that the big tree beside our driveway wouldn’t be a problem, even though I already knew about the sidewalk order and was happy to let them remove the tree if needed.  Today a guy from the city facilities office came by, and he said the other guy was wrong – they do need to remove the tree (it is one of two on the proposed route that absolutely MUST go), but not the mail box (we just spent $500 on the mailbox a few years ago).  I told this guy that we’re happy to cooperate, and he said they may be over to begin removing the tree as early as Tuesday next week.   Whew – I’m glad that they are removing it.  I’ve been eyeing it closely every winter since we moved in – it has one section that seriously looks like it’s about to fall down into the street.  If that were to happen, it would block at least 2 lanes (both south-bound) and might seriously damage any vehicles passing under it.  The city is saving us about $4,000 on tree care here!