Weekend roundup... plus raccoons!

The treehugger in me doesn't like typing things like this, but we successfully took down 2 trees in on our property this weekend, with the help of Jock's operational chain saw and my neighbor John's heavy-duty rope and winch setup. They were dead as doornails, (the trees) and dropping large and varied branches onto the backyard, so down they came. It's true what they say, nothing makes you feel more like a man than knocking down a tree and making lots of noise while doing it.
They downside is that I have a LOT of cutting of wood to do now, and no operational chain saw with which to do it. McCulloch = BAD. I'm hoping there is some sort of warranty on the one I bought in the kiddie chain saw department at Harbor Freight.
Note to all future purchasers of chain saws. If you really want to kick some "lumberjack ass", don't skimp on the chain saw purchase. I tried to save a little dough, and now I'm without a working saw. The first one I bought busted in 2 days, and the replacement busted after several more uses. It's time to bring out the big guns.... (I can just see Ann rolling her eyes right here...)
One upside is that we'll have MORE than enough fuel for a bonfire this weekend if we need one during our St Louis invasion... Chiers and Donahues are coming for their inaugural Bond Drive visit, so I'll be sure to try and make it an outdoors, borderline redneck fest.
Also of note this weekend were 2 trips to the pool for fun with the girls and Karen and Jock, an early Saturday 20-mile ride with Ann, and getting back to church on Sunday for the first time in weeks.

"They're creepy and they're cooky... mysterious and spooky... they're all together worth getting rid of..... the ra-ccoon fa-mi-ly" (snap snap)

My quest to off a few raccoons in the neighborhood has come to a grinding halt, however. The little potlickers (thanks, Dad, that's a great term) have thoroughly destroyed my compost bin and its contents, so I'm no longer putting our food waste there in hopes of getting some nice dirt for planting.
The reason for the halt? Well, the trap I got from dad looks like something devised in medieval times to torture enemies of the smaller variety. It's literally a wooden box, about 1.5-foot square, with a metal contraption that's placed inside that snaps the neck of any would-be visitor.
And.... since our neighbor's cat Josie roams the 'hood freely, well, you can see the potential disaster. So, our little masked friends (as the Gardners refer to them) will keep on keepin' on in our yard.
I'm just gonna have to cut back on giving them more reasons to be around our house.