Tall tree trimming

I thought I was done with tree trimming for now but then I looked up at the two large box elder trees over my patio and saw some dead and dying branches.  The tree is so massive and tall I can't get to the top branches.  I trimmed a few "lower" branches.


Before and after for the latest branch cut.  Even putting the ladder in the pickup bed I could not get the ladder all the way to the branch I wanted to cut.  I climbed up the ladder and using a chainsaw I could just barely reach the branch.

As you can see there is another dead branch.  But it is a little higher and over the patio.  So unreachable by the extension ladder.

The second photo below shows how far I was away from the branch I had just cut.

I was uneasy about the branch coming down while I was way up the ladder holding a running chainsaw.  So when the branch was mostly cut and close to coming down I stopped cutting.  I got a long rope and then standing on the ground pulled the branch down and away from the pickup and the patio... barely missing each of them.

For extra safety I attached a bungie cord to the bottom of the ladder.