The Tree

The husband has been busy most every weekend trying to get the "honey do" list done of chores around the house. This weekend was the tree. We had a Maple tree on the back acre of our property that had died. We don't really know why but it was infested with earwigs. I hate those bugs. Pincers on the front and stingers on the back. Like scorpions but smaller.

Evil creatures.

The kids were very excited to see the tree come down. They had front row seats under the Willow tree but far enough away that no head injuries would occur.

The dead tree.
Leafless and sad amonst the greenery.

I would ordinarily worry about Larry taking down a tree but during his younger years he worked for a tree company so is well versed on tree safety and removal.

And he has great legs.

One man. One tree.

The man won.

And we will have free firewood this year.

We were sad to see this beautiful shade Maple go but realize it will make room for the saplings to emerge and grow and provide more shade for us.

The kids were not happy that we had to dismantle the playset.
Perturbed you might say.

Man in a tree.

But at some point there is always a problem. His chainsaw got stuck in the limb and he had to hook up a rope and pull the branch to free the chain saw.

I think he loves chain saw more than me.

See?

Stuck.

Pulling the limb to free his girl.

That would be the chainsaw....not me.

The biggest limb came down with a crack and a crash. I ran outside just to make sure everyone was okay. Shouldn't he have a hard hat on?

The remains.

Downed limbs waiting to be cut.

They crushed the lilac bushes but no matter.

They were just scrub bushes that weren't blooming well but I'm sure they will now with the added sunlight to the scenery.

He hangs laundry for me too.

Now that's a man.

Sad tree.

Notice how the bark was peeling off around the bottom of the tree. I am glad that's it is down. We've had some pretty strong thunderstorms and I would worry about someone being injured by a falling limb.

There is still some cleanup to be done. But the logs are stacked ready to be split and the branches will make some great kindling for the fireplace.

We have some other trees that need pruning in a bad way and hope that they will provide more firewood for us for the winter. Some of the trees have nests and baby birds so we will have to wait until they fledge to do some pruning.

How is your summer going?