which kind of sucked but really had to be done. Last year a storm damaged it and it really should have been taken down a while ago. I dropped it, de-limbed it and bucked up the trunk. I started at about 0900 and was finsihed at about 1500 which is an awful lot of time to take to drop a tree and buck it up.
An awful lot of time was spent diddling with the chain saw partially because I didn't plan ahead as I simply woke up and decided to just fall the damned thing. As soon as I got started I realized the chain was dull so I swapped it out and dropped the tree in pretty good time.
It was in a location where it really didn't matter which way it fell so I didn't bother roping it. I did, however cut a slightly oversized notch in it to drop it in the direction that would make it easiest to haul the bucked up sections off. Of course, the damned thing fell where it wanted because I didn't rope it off.
While notching it generally works, it is not foolproof. Anyway, I got it down all right and got a couple of limbs off before I ran out of gas and stopped to go get some. WHile I was at it I got a new bar and another spare chain, the new chain was defective so I had to return it.
While I was returning it a friend called me on the cell phone and asked me what I was doing. I told him I was returning a chain because it had broken just as I was getting ready to chop up the paperboy for leaving my paper on the lawn.
Of course, the clerk snickered but the woman behind me got worked up big time to the point I am surprised she didn't dial 911. I haven't seen anyone get so worked up since I asked an eBay seller if the cattle prod she was selling would get my grandkids to eat their vegetables. I got reported to eBay for that one. They threatened to take away my birthday or some damned thing. I think they threatened to close my account for ten minutes or something.
Once I asked a Lowe's clerk for some rope to strangle the paperboy and he dropped what he was doing and showed me how to make a garrote out of some thin cable thay sold. It was a delightful conversation that drifted into the proper way to tie up a sex partner. I suppose if any customer had overheard that conversation they would have either laughed like hell or reported the guy and gotten him canned, still it was delightfully sick.
It was one thing after another and finally things came together and I got the damned job done. It is down and cut up.
Today I'll drag the chipper/shredder down and grind up the limbs.
There are 5 more trees that have to get taken out this summer but none of them are in a position where I can simply drop them. I'll have to get a pro in because they are going to have to be taken down in sections as one slip and there is likely to be major house damage.
My guess is that most of these evergreens were planted about the time I was born, about 60 years ago and they were nice and provided a lot of shade and privacy but now that they are mature and too damned big they are a liability.
Anyway, my summer is planned. I have a lot to do. I am going to be a chain saw wielding tree murderer.
As I post this early I woke up ahead of my usual schedule and made breakfast and finished up the last of the Amish thick sliced bacon. I fried it up slowly and enjoyed it.
Now I am fed I guess I'll just have to wait about three hours until the witching hour of 0900 before I haul the chipper down back.
The chipper has lasted me over 15 years and is living on borrowed time. I wonder what I am going to do when it finally craps out. Right now I am at the point where it really makes poor financial sense to cough up another $700 for a new one as I am well along enough in years so anything new I buy will outlast me. I won't get my money's worth out of it.
I have a few tools that I bought in my late 20s and 30s that have been used and still work well. I spent top dollar for them and got good service out of them. Good tools are worth the money.
Still, a new chipper/shredder sounds like a pretty poor investment to me at this point.
We'll see if it holds up for the season.
That's all for today.
my other blog is: http://officerpiccolo.blogspot.com/ http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/
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