The trees are down

I got a call at 7:45 am. "Better get your (blank blank) out of bed. My husband is getting the chain saw blades sharpened and will be at your house shortly."  This is the husband of a dear friend who we had asked to cut down the dead and dying trees in our back yard. We have been waiting weeks as work and weather had interfered with the plans. We needed some dry weather and availability. He wanted to start early in case the day got hotter.

The sound of a chain woke Tom from his sleep. I had already dressed and greeted my friends and talked about where the trees should fall. He was going to try and fell them across the hill, save us some work dragging the wood up from below,but gravity took over. The first tree was so dead that it snapped three quarters through the cut even with the wedge cut directing it another way. The chain saw went flying as the tree grabbed it, as the tree  fell straight down the hill instead of across the hill. My friend jumped out of the way at the first sound of the crack as the trunk gave way before the cut was finished. That tree was going to h ave a mind of its own. It was the reason we were taking the rotting trees out, to control the damage when they fell. Prevent them from killing someone if they went without warning.  My friend knew what to do, letting go of the chain saw, so as to not be dragged along, and leaping far out of the danger zone before the tree toppled. It was heart stopping to see the chain saw fly and the tree have a mind of its own. First one down.

The next tree went a little more smoothly and quickly as we opted just to cut for the down hill fall. No longer fighting gravity the next tree went quickly, so dead it was light as a hollow tree when it fell. The third tree wasn't as far gone as the other two so it held on until the cut was complete. You could feel the ground shake when it hit.  By the third tree, Tom had dressed and finished his coffee while watching the work from the deck. There were enough trees down to bring out another chain saw to cut the timber up for fire wood. Limb up the branches for access to the logs and begin to clean up the mess.

The boys were called out to help carry the logs up the hill. I had arranged to give the wood away free to speed up the clean up. The guy who was getting the wood would come Monday after work. There was enough down for two to three truck loads or a couple of cords once everything was split.

Trevor tried  to use an ax to split the wood. My friend showed him how to slide his hand down the shaft of the ax to keep control until the last moment until the head cut into the edge of the wood log. He gave Trevor an excellent lesson, even showed Tom how to improve his technique. But we didn't want to waist time on splitting wood when the guy collecting it would have that pleasure. We just wanted it out of the yard.

After a large amount had been cleared away, another  snag and another dead tree were cut down. The idea was not to  have too much berried by cutting down everything at once. Cutting a few trees down  then cutting them up and hauling the pieces out of the way before bringing down more. My friend found a piece of wood 17 inches long to use as a measuring stick to get the right lengths between log cuts. He used a machete to mark the trunk the whole length every 17 inches, then came back with his saw and cut. Tom was working one trunk, while he was working the other. The boys were hauling the logs up the hill.

The hill was a bit steep for a truck and the access was narrow, so everything was being hauled up by hand. By noon the men were sitting in chairs having a drink and work had come to a halt. Most of the trees we knew for sure we were removing were down and chopped up. Most of the trunks that had been lying on the fence were removed.

One of my lower neighbors  dropped by to check on our work during the morning. The chain  saw noises made her nervous, I suppose. She was  very pleasant but wanted to make sure we weren't going to clear too much land. She brought a plot map with her so we could know where our boundaries were, also the names and phone numbers of all my neighbors directly bordering my property. I wasn't worried. I hadn't done any work that the neighbors wouldn't be grateful for with the removal of the blackberries. She informed me the house right behind ours was a rental but she was friends with the absentee landlord.

 Her concern was we would remove too many trees and in so doing she would lose her privacy in her back yard. I showed her what I had been doing and she was happy with my work. Though she wanted to make sure we knew the fence was not our property line.  I told her I would plant a rhodie down towards her corner property, as she said in the winter with the leaves gone, she was a little more exposed.

I would love having the color and the evergreen leaves would fill in the void in the winter. She was grateful, and said I was very thoughtful.  As we walked the property she pointed out two dead trees down by her lot. I noted that the trees according to her were on her land. I looked at her inquiringly, she responded that she guessed she would have to deal with them. I hadn't  cleared  that area other than spraying for the blackberries as I figured I was beyond our land.

 I think she was now a little disappointed that she had talked to  me, as she realized she had a dead tree hanging over her deck that she would have to deal with, where perhaps I might have helped her out had she just let me continue removing the dead wood. But these trees we have found are tricky, with minds of their own.

 My friend with the chain saw had walked around each one to assess their angles and any branches that might pose a danger. We had to leave a tree standing because of a big snag branch that would have been dangerous during the cutting. I am hopeful the snag will eventually fall to the ground so we can tackle the tree later. Other trees we had to pass up because they bent towards the house and we feared during the cutting they would fall the wrong way. Those we will have to have a licensed professional come and limb up. I have been enjoying their shade on the deck during sunny days, so there is no hurry. The trees we removed were only the sickly ones.   

We took the dead trunks off the fence at the bottom of the property. The property line is somewhere between the deer path/ sewer easement and the fence, a twenty to twenty five foot gray zone.   The fence is not on the property line, but about ten feet below it. I doubt the absentee landlord would mind my killing the blackberries and improving the hillside with some pretty trees and shrubs. If someone ever did come along to remove the fence they would have a nice back yard,  thanks to me.

This visiting neighbor asked if I wanted to have the boundaries surveyed. I told her my nice neighbor next door wanted to blend our yards and create a meadow and forest. I saw no reason to get an expensive survey. I told her I planning to plant nothing over twenty to thirty feet, no potentially towering trees that might obscure our beautiful views. She said that was the land lord's concern and will go back to her absent friend and be able to ease her mind with our activities. Maybe my down hill rental neighbors might be inspired to tackle those black berries just on the other side of the fence, by seeing the good works we have been doing.

The Preakness race was on at two. Tom wanted to catch the race,  so everyone headed out well before then, to shower and change, to return later for a celebratory BBQ. I invited a girlfriend who is a forester to join the BBQ. She told us the trees close to the house are Cottonwood, not Alder. Cottonwood is fast growing. I really didn't see any significance to the difference. They are both almost  weeds.

 There are two Maples in the yard. We will leave both of the Maples. One of the Maples had been chopped down once before, but had grown again with multiple trunks from the original, creating a good complicated and vast root system for the hill.  We are guessing everything occurred prior to 1989 when the land was cleared for the  house.

Trev had a friend over for the weekend. Tom put everyone to work. The boys would work for an hour then get an hour off for games and a break. The weather was perfect, not too hot and beautifully sunny. Riley wanted to try using the ax to split logs. Trevor had got to try.  I was arguing with Riley that now was not the time, and that I would give him an opportunity later once all the hauling was done, when Tom interrupted our argument to veto Riley, saying that his number just weren't good enough, in case he did have a serious accident. An ax was nothing to  fool with. I wish Tom hadn't said it, as I don't want Riley to be any more cautious than he already is. Given a moment when everything was calm, Tom  was going to let Riley have a few swings with the ax, but Riley was being so pissy wanting it right then, with the chain saws going and the kids hauling logs that occasionally got away from them to roll back down the hill, there was just too much going on. Riley needed to be set up on a flat area not on the hillside where Trevor had tried to chop the wood. The end result was we never got around to giving Riley his opportunity. Riley probably never asked again because of what Tom had said about his numbers. It made me sad, because it would have been so nice for Riley to do something so normal and masculine as chopping wood.

We partied late, surprisingly so, after such a physical day. Sunday the rains came again and all I could do is peak out the windows at the wood piles and contemplate clipping up all those downed tree branches. It has been raining heavily every day since. The guy collecting the logs came over and worked in the rain, hauling the logs from the pile the boys made to his truck on the street.

He filled the truck to the brim the first day. The logs left would fill another truck load easily. He hadn't even reached the stuff that hadn't been hauled up from below by the boys.  He said he was turning 50 next weekend and having a big Bonn fire on his property. He really appreciated the wood. I really appreciated not having to deal with it and having it gone.

Now all I need are new plants to put in the ground. With this rainy weather perhaps I should get to planting