My niece finally realized she better get the damaged trees and limbs removed from her backyard before the city calls itself done picking up all the debris residents pile up on their curbs. So, she put out a call for help and Second Son and I, the most experienced with a chainsaw and cutting down trees, were elected as the main labor crew.
Here’s what we had to deal with:
The willow tree, which really doesn’t look all that bad in this shot, actually sprawled clear back to the house, and more importantly, over the neighbor’s garage. The maple tree in the foreground (only the bottom half of which is showing here) wasn’t sprawling all over the place, but had to come down because it sits atop the sewer line and she’s sick of calling Roto-Rooter out every time she turns around to clear the tree roots out of the line.
The rest of what you see here is mainly debris that came down with the weight of the ice. There’s actually a fairly good-sized wooden swing set directly beyond the maple tree, but the debris is so thick, you can’t make it out (not even standing in the yard!)
So, armed with a chain saw, a ladder and my dad (for supervision and strategic planning), we entered the jungle that was her backyard this afternoon after school.
We had a crew of extended family members gathered to drag what we cut out to the curb, but ALL of the climbing and in-the-air cutting was done by my brave, strong and not-afraid-of-heights Second Son.
Yes, we had a couple of close calls with limbs coming down in unexpected directions, and I got a good bonk on the head that knocked me on my large part, but most importantly, Second Son stayed in the tree until he came down via the ladder, as planned.
It was too dark to take an after picture when we finished, but I’ll be going back over there tomorrow after I get the kids off to school to take Dad’s chainsaw to get a new chain and cut up what is now on the ground so it can be drug to the curb, as well. I’ll get the after picture then. Trust me when I tell you, it’s a vastly different backyard now.
Wow. That’s a lot of damage. And a lot of work, it sounds like. I hope you all went out for pizza and beer when it was done.
I am impressed that you can wield a chainsaw. I am not allowed to use sharp power tools. Which is ok, as they scare me, and I really wouldn’t want to cut a hand off.
No pizza and beer, but a long soak in the tub, instead. 🙂
I have my dad to thank for my power tool skills. I can actually run most of the power tools in his shop, too. I figured out early in life that if I wanted Dad to myself, the easiest way to get time with him was to become an apprentice. Thanks to that, I can frame a room addition, hang drywall, mud and tape it, hang vinyl siding, shingle your roof, paint your rooms, build you a deck, refinish your furniture, rebuild your VW Beetle engine, pull your stumps and burn your brush.
You are my hero. Those are some good skills to have.
Of four children, I am the sole daughter out of three sons. I also learned a lot of skills from my father. I can also (and have done) ‘frame a room addition, hang drywall, mud and tape it, hang vinyl siding, shingle your roof, paint your rooms, build you a deck, refinish your furniture’, but, ummm, not that other stuff. But I can also do electrical work, install plumbing fixtures, and am otherwise pretty damn handy about the house.
Who needs men, anyway?
Oooohhh…maybe you’ve just hit on why it is a) I don’t have one and b) why it is all of them think I don’t want one.
There’s only one thing I can think of for which only a man will do, and no, it’s not give me an orgasm. I can do that for myself, thank you very much. No, it’s this insane craving that overtakes me every now and then to be wrapped in a pair of strong arms and fall asleep with his face at my ear or buried in my hair.
Ok…can we agree I’ve read one too many a romance novel in my lifetime?
Ugh.
BTW – I am the oldest of 4 girls. AKA the boy that didn’t show up. 🙂