No More PIne Tree

 

This spring we noticed the pine tree in front of our house was partly dead. There was one big section where all the needles were brown. There is a place in town you can take branches for free through the month of September and they grind them into mulch. We talked about cutting down the tree by then so we would have an easy way to get rid of it. One day Wade came over and just started sawing. I didn't even know he was out there! He got this much done before the battery ran out on his chain saw. I didn't get a before picture. These pictures are day two of cutting.

 

 

Wade is leaving little stubs so he can climb up the tree and cut off branches that are higher. Smart idea!

 

 

 One big branch off!

 

 

 Blake is helping. He is taller than Wade, so he is cutting some branches that Wade can't reach.

 

 

The ladder is a little rickety, but they decided to use it anyway.

 

 

 While Blake hauled off branches, Wade took a try on the ladder.

 

 

The tree was quite a bit bigger than we realized. 

 

 

 Hard at work!

 

 

 Wade an article on line about chopping trees down. It said to cut a wedge the way you wanted the tree to fall.

 

 

We started getting nervous the tree was going to fall into the Bodeman's yard or on their swing. Someone had the idea to use some rope and then pull it. Blake volunteered to get the rope in place.

 

 

 Wade gives Blake some pointers on how to make the tree fall where we want it to. It was harder than it sounded!

 

 

 Blake had to keep the string straight.

 

 

 

 TIMBER! The tree didn't fall where we wanted it to, it actually just snapped and tipped over towards the Bodeman's house. Luckily, it just kind of bent over and so it didn't hit anything.

 

 

The top of the tree was bigger than it looked when it was on the ground instead of up in the air, but together Wade and Blake were able to drag it to the trailer.

 

 

 All that is left is the trunk.  It is still pretty tall and we will need to take another section off before we can dig the stump out.

 

 

 The trailer was packed full for the second time. I won't miss this tree. It will be nice to look out the window and have a full view.