Timber!

We have a dead tree in our backyard that was just asking to come down. No leaves ever since we moved here, and pretty brittle looking branches. We nervously watched during a hurricane last summer, but it stayed up. It wasn't a big problem because it was tiny enough that even if it fell, it wouldn't be able to inflict much damage. But it worried us that one day it might come down all by itself in some unthought-of inconvenient way. Once we cleared the area by the patio, D started to think that maybe he should take the tree down since he thought it would probably be an "easy job."

He has no experience cutting down trees.

He didn't have the right tools.

That worried me.

Fortunately we have a friend who knows an awful lot about cutting down trees, being a carpenter, builder, general repair specialist, and all around great guy. I emailed him and his wife on a Saturday asking if sometime in the near-ish future, they would mind helping. Maybe summer sometime. Or early fall.

They called me and asked "how about tomorrow?" (Actually, they asked "how about this afternoon?" but we have plans we couldn't cancel, and asked if the following day would work.) How's that for good service?

Of course that day was rainy, but that didn't stop the boys. D and our friend, R, went out to assess the tree. R thought it might be too dried out to safely cut (it could do crazy, unpredictable things like shatter or fall in the wrong direction), but then decided it was so tiny, they could manage. He didn't bring his chainsaw, so they just used manual tools--a hand saw and an axe.

We learned how to chisel out a space to encourage the tree to fall in that direction. They alternated using the axe on the one side and the saw on the other. We also learned that for "unpredictable" dried up trees, it was safer to cut the trunk pretty high, so that you could be on your feet if it started to fall when and where you weren't expecting. Cutting lower to the ground means that you're hunched over and it takes time to get up to run away.

 In just about 5-10 minutes, down it went!

They pondered the tree and decided to start taking off branches. We aren't sure exactly what kind of wood it is, but it's definitely hard wood that will be good for our fireplace this winter.

Once the branches were off, they moved the trunk into the brush so it didn't kill the grass. R left us with the tools to chop it up, though we haven't gotten around to it yet.

That tree came down three weeks ago and we've made no progress since. Here's the view from our dining room window last night (please excuse the screen in the window--I didn't want to open it all the way and risk having a cat escape). But it works for now, at least--the branches are on the patio and the trunk in the brush, so neither is damaging our yard. And we learned how to take down a (very small and inoffensive) dead tree.

And now, because I can't think about cutting down trees without this reference, it's time for something completely different: