Forestry 101

Last weekend, while Hubby and I were doing yard work, I noticed that we had a dead tree hanging precariously over the path through the woods to our neighbors' house. On further inspection, we realized that it was being eaten up by big ants and the tree would surely meet its downfall soon. Not wanting it to fall on someone on the path, I thought we should take it down ourselves. Hubby explained that his chain saw blade was very dull and would need to be sent out for sharpening first. Being the helpful wife I am, I made sure on Monday that I got the blade to the hardware store to be sharpened. Wouldn't want a dull blade to stand in the way of our forestry project, now, would we? I think Hubby was secretly hoping that the blade wouldn't be back in time to do this little project before we leave on vacation at the end of this week. But the store called yesterday....the blade was ready! Weeee, I exclaimed....sigh, groaned Hubby. We sounded a bit like the hippos, George and Martha (do you remember those stories?).

Today we went out to fell the tree. Our neighbors on the other end of the path came down to help and while the two ladies watched, the men with the chainsaw wielded their power. Once the dead tree was taken down, it was amazing at how many other dead trees I could see. We could take those out too, couldn't we? And what about the sick wild cherry that's dropping nasty staining berries all over the driveway? That could go too. Well, that was the last suggestion. That tree was BIG, but Hubby did agree to cut off the big limb hanging over the driveway. While cutting it up into manageable pieces, the chain saw got stuck in the tree and just hung there by it's blade. Hubby wasn't happy. He had to get out a hand-held saw to cut his chainsaw out of the cherry tree! This is when he pronounced this as Forestry 201....the project that turned into a lot more work and aggravation than he ever dreamed possible. Oh, and did I mention that all these trees are growing amongst the poison ivy? Hubby is now in the shower scrubbing every square inch of himself in hopes of not spending our vacation itching and scratching. Now that will make another interesting post! Stay tuned.....