it left them topheavy and unstable in high wind from a certain direction, and one by one, they all broke, or toppled.

Oh, god, please no. I get heavy winds a couple times a year, and they hit the tree that got trimmed first. If my beautiful tree topples because of that idiot, I don't know what I'll even do.

If he trimmed all the way around - they should be ok. If you are not sure call an arborist

second meal --Tamagoyaki. It was the first time i made it. Tasted good, but not as pretty as it could be. it is slow cooking

If you are not sure call an arborist

Call an arborist and charge the cost to them, because lower pine limbs won't grow back. You'll have to plant something in front of them to get the screening back.

I am also a "don't touch my things" person, but doing something unfixable without asking is beyond the pale.

People who watch home improvement shows where realtors and designers shriek about "opening up the house" and "letting light in".

My sister. I love my sister. She's a wonderful person. I wish she'd stop watching HGTV all the time.

I don't know, maybe I'm being sexist but it seems to me, you put a blade in a man's hand, he's gonna go looking for something to cut down.

Seems that way to me, too.

As much as I am (mildly) annoyed by the small army of relentless lady DIYers that surrounds me*, I think from now on, the only person doing maintenance work in my house and yard will be me. Except for the guy who mows my lawn. He's all right. He's an exception to the "go looking for something else to cut" mindset.

If he trimmed all the way around - they should be ok. If you are not sure call an arborist

I've looked at them with a calmer mind and talked about it with my regular lawn guy. He agrees that the trees will be fine, and says the lower limbs will probably grow back, at least partly, in a couple years. It doesn't look as bad as it initially looked to me, and isn't going to harm the trees. It's about five feet up from the ground, but the trees are wide as well as tall, so it doesn't look to me like it'll make them too top-heavy. Scissors Man trimmed one tree all the way around and another halfway before I stopped him. Many of those lower branches are/were dead and I knew they needed to be trimmed out, so I may go on and trim out some of the dead branches from the other side of the half-trimmed tree. I'll leave the third tree alone for now. I think I'll also speak to my neighbor about it, because he said he thought it looked better now, and I want him to know not to trim too much or too high if he decides to do it to his pine tree too. I've found he doesn't know much, he just likes to mess with things. I'm trying to be calm and zen about this.

*you have no idea. Any time I say, I need somebody to do X, they chirp, oh, I did X myself! and tell me all about it and how easy it is and how I can do it myself too! When I was getting the new floors put down in my bathroom and kitchen, both my sister and my BFF kept talking about the floors they'd laid themselves. ARGH YES I KNOW I LOVE YOU SHUT UP

Groceries acquired. Char sui in its bath. I think it might be time for a cup of tea.

Today, my only free day in 8 days of intensive teaching, I wanted to go to the National Building Museum, or maybe the Phillips Gallery, or maybe both! Instead I spent the whole day with my 92 year old grandfather and 81 year old step grandmother. I did get them set up to watch Breaking Bad on Netflix via their TV. So I feel virtuous. But man, I really wanted to go to a museum by myself instead.

You are a good person, flea!

I just went and bought all the things at TJs, including Jesse's biltong jerky.

::shakes fist::

My cousin's graduation party broke up sooner than I expected, so instead of going straight to the airport, we came home, and I'm going to call a cab in a few minutes. Work is paying, so who cares! There was a shocking lack of traffic on the way home -- it's such a gorgeous day, maybe the beach people stayed later?

A picture of the pool at the Paris.

[link]

This is the first time I've ever wanted to go to Las Vegas.

I talked to my sister and she made me feel better about the tree. We agreed that no one should do anything to it for a year and let it recover, and she reassured me after I sent her a couple photos that the tree is all right. I told her I understand now why she does everything herself.

I am tired, and a lot of stuff on my to do list remains undone, but I fed myself today and have breakfast and lunch made for tomorrow. It's taking a long time for the water to come up to flan temperature, but I don't have to do anything about that, just wait. I should wash more dishes and I should really do some laundry, but tired.