Homework

One of the hemlocks that we cut down before had two trunks to it. It was time for the second one to come down while I had Mark and Andrew to help me out. Before we did that, we got the cedar against the house removed so I can use that space for less scruffy looking landscaping.

Andrew taught us all about how the Native Americans gave cedar to the early settlers to prevent scurvy. He also marveled at the rich soil that was inside the freakish trunk of the tree. I nodded and smiled and provided minimal resistance to his interest in the stumpy mass.

Ok Hemlock time. First of all, the tree was leaning toward the neighbor's property. Andrew recommended that we tie ropes to it, so up he went. Just for the record, I recommended that we take the branches off to make it so that it would be less likely to fall the wrong way. I was vetoed.

Why aren't there many pictures of the cutting down of the tree? Here's how it went. The tree started falling toward the neighbors yard, Two people on ropes couldn't handle it. I got Jul's truck and we tied the ropes to there.. one after another they snapped. Luckily we changed it's direction just enough to have it fall right down the property line. Instead of the neighbors yard/shed. While I concede that the tree trimming I recommended wouldn't have made it fall differently. I still think the reduced weight would have made it easier to pull toward us... oh well.

The neighbors on the other side let us use their wench to pull the tree off of its side. Too bad we didn't know about that earlier. Next Mr Hemlock got lopped up and carted off while we burned the cedar in the garden. To add insult to injury, we burned the cedar and made s'mores in the fire :)