The Big Bastard Goes Down

With the high winds we got yesterday I woke up to a house with no power. After making coffee with a plumber's torch (there's a trick, no I'm not showing you) I went outside and picked up dead branches and other stuff littering the yard. There's this big dead Hemlock tree in the front yard I've been meaning to cut down. Problems: it's close to two apple trees I want to keep, it is leaning towards the driveway and will probably hit the wires going to the house if it goes down that way and oh... ah I don't have a chainsaw.

Still no power at the house, one more propane fueled coffee, ok the big bastard is going down. I decided I was going to cut the Hemlock down with my trusty ax. Why? Well I've been meaning to try cutting down a really big tree with an ax. To see how much work is involved and you know to see if I can do it kinda thing. My grandfather used to do that kind of thing professionally so I figured I might have inherited the skills!

It took half an hour, but it did come down in the end. I angled the cut so it would fall between the apple trees and I'm happy to report that my instincts where right! It is about 18 inches across about two feet off the ground, so a decent size. Two important observations: 1) Get yourself a chainsaw, dropping a tree that size is a lot of work. 2) Don't ever mess with anyone who swings an ax for a living, they're probably the wiryest people you'll ever find.