"Men do not care how nobly they live, but only for how long. Although it is within the reach of every man to live nobly, but within no man's power to live long." - Lucius Annaeus Seneca
Yesterday the tree service came by and helped me out with a big issue. Ten big issues, actually. All of these trees were able to reach the house if they fell over in the wrong direction.
I now have a big mess to clean up. It cost a lot of money just to have the trees dropped, and having them ground up would have cost a fortune. So I will be limbing them, burning the limbs, and giving the trunks to neighbors for firewood. My exercise for the next week or two. I have to get the burns done quickly, before the summer burn ban goes into effect.
EDIT:
Progress is limited, due to my work schedule. I've only had 1-1/2 days off work since the tree service dropped the 10 huge trees. I've now limbed five of them, and gathered up nearly all of the branches to burn. The driveway no longer looks like a mess of fallen trees.
Cutting the stumps into 18" rounds will be a project as well. The fir seems to cut pretty easily, while the pine dulls the chain pretty quick. Don't know why it would do that, because they are both soft wood, unless it's the sap.
Below: This pile doesn't look big, but it's over 6 ft high and much bigger across than my car
Another 6ft tall pile, waiting for a burn.
Update:
Blaze it! 4-20. No, not *that* 420...
2 comments:
I was about to reply/comment on your previous post, and then found this one. My thought on the trees is: if they can reach the house then they need to come down. Sadly, I have 3 in my own yard that I'd like to have taken down. Just can't afford $1,000 per tree to have them taken down. One is maybe 20 feet from my back deck. Then there are the trees in neighbors yard that I can't do anything about. One flowering cherry tree in a neighbors yard might end up dead. It keeps sending shoots/roots under the fence and coming up in my yard. This year, any I find will get sprayed with either roundup or 40% vinegar & soap. Think the roundup may be more effective at getting back to the roots. The same neighbor has 3 fir trees planted far to close together and far to close to my fence. Their branches hang over into my yard and I have to cut them back every year. Not a pleasant experience, since my yard has a reasonable slope to it. Of course, there are other things I'd rather spend my time on. It was nice the tree folks dropped the trees for you.
Heya Marc,
Thanks for dropping by and commenting. Sounds like your tree problems are worse than mine. When trees are near structures the price goes way up, because the limbs have to be removed and lowered with ropes before the tree trunk can be dropped. Makes the process really expensive.
I paid $1000 to have 10 gigantic trees dropped. I had them professionally felled because I'm not very good at getting them to fall exactly where I want, and because they were so freaking big. Once they are down, no big deal - I can handle the rest. We have some smaller trees that also need to go (maybe 18" trunks), but those I can handle.
Just trying to stay out ahead of the inevitable wind storms and wildfires. As you know, I try to be prepared for events that *everyone knows* will eventually happen. It's just a matter of when.
If I can keep our home from burning down or getting crushed by a nearby tree, along with the stress and dislocation that would bring, it's time and money well spent.
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