“I’m a lumberjack and I’m alright …”
I took Friday off work to cut down some trees. About 2 years ago I noticed our hard maple tree along the property line had several dead branches. I cut them out and pained the cuts with latext paint. Yes that is probably the best method of sealing up an open wound on a tree. No tar is not the best choice. The following year more of the tree was dying. I cleared those branches as well and the tree looked great the rest of last year. This year however only a few branches had leaves. It had to come down. Got back up in the tree to start piecing it out and that’s when I noticed the split in the trunk. This tree had been hit by lightening. The damage was pretty bad. I was lucky not to land on my butt with broken limbs (from the tree and me). The trunk was splitting as I was up there and it was not safe.
I was going to have to drop it without piecing it out. I hate doing that. With the power lines on the south and east and another tree to the north the only way to drop it was west, into the neighbor’s yard. That meant I was going to have to get it cleaned up BEFORE they got home from work. I guessed at the height and paced it off. If I was right I’d have 10 feet and clearance from their pool. I cleared all the lower limbs and dropped the tree. My guess was close, I had less than 3 feet clearance. Now I really had to work fast. My original plan was to piece it out and work on it over time but now … well needless to say I want to be a good neighbor.
The tree was on the ground by 10am. I had it cleaned up and had the firewood cut to size and hauled to Wife’s grandparents and stacked by 3pm. The only thing left was the brush left over from the tree and I was going to move that on Saturday. But it was stacked nice and neat and cut to fit in the back of my father in-law’s pickup truck. I busted my butt to get it all done and I did. There was not a twig or leaf left in the neighbor’s yard. I saw Lee (my neighbor) on Saturday and told him I had to drop it into his yard and that I’d have the brush gone later that evening after we got home from my nephews’ b-day party. We got home and it was gone. Lee had packed it all in his truck and hauled it for me. He said it was the least he could do considering how much I helped with their pool this year. He said it only took 2 trips and he was done in 30 minutes. How cool is that!!
1 Comment
2007 October 15 at 5:29 pm
Way to kick some tail!
-Yon Yonson