Removing a Tree

D wanted that apple tree gone and now it is.  Today was the day R, the “tree man”, came to take it down and also to remove some limbs from our neighbor’s oak.  The apple tree came down quickly, and R didn’t even have to climb it to bring it down.  The stump was dug out with no fuss (but a lot of noise) due to modern machinery.  Here’s what’s left of our apple tree:

The real fun of the day, for me at least, was watching R take off the offending branches from neighbor’s oak. R had to climb higher than the neighbor’s house to get to the right spot in the tree while his son held one of the ropes that would support R if he came down before he planned to.

It's really a story in pictures today, and I'll apologize for the odd spacing now.  There are certain things I can control and some I can't!

 

 

This is the second branch to come down so R first gets up to above the correct height, checks things out to see where it is best for him to stand, and stand on the dead branch (briefly!) to get the rope and tie it on to the branch.  Then he cuts it off in two lengths. The second cut takes off the stub of the branch.

 The next branch is the longest one to be removed.  Again remember, this is a dead branch he is walking along. In the next two photos

you can get an idea of how long it is and how it slants towards the ground.

 

Now he is actually making the second cut behind his left leg; I wouldn't do that (I wouldn't do any of this for that matter!), but he knows what he is doing and hops behind the trunk when the branch falls. The branches are always tethered to a rope and are guided by the man below so there is little chance of a branch falling where it shouldn't.

 

After everything was taken down, cut up or chopped in the chipper, and yard tidied, R said goodbye for at least another year.  

But all is not over for us, yet.  We have oak from our neighbor’s tree and apple from our own to burn next winter.  We’ll have the neighbor over for a toast to a warm, sweet-smelling wood fire some bitterly cold day and get our last bit of pleasure from our trees.