Willow... crash!

All my former girlfriends have asked me, how did I ever get along without them?

I reacted differently at times. Sometimes I got annoyed as I have done just fine, thank you, prior to meeting them. Usually I would shrug and smile as it was a valid question usually posed after something goofy or dumb that I had just done. I had no good answer then.

Now I have an answer: without them I would put a hole through my garage roof.

Yup. I have been cutting on my willow tree some more. I just don't know when to quit, do I? Now this is where the girlfriend would come in, she would have something more important for me to do on her 'honey-do' list and would advise me against trying to cut the top branches of the willow tree.

Due to the difficulty in reaching the dead branches on the north half of the willow tree I was more concerned about falling out of the tree than where the branches would fall. The branches were over the area in front of the garage, and the power lines were far enough east and west that I didn't think the branch could reach them. Finally I would have a cut where I didn't have to worry about where the branch would fall.

You've seen the pictures from before, and I've included them again below, the problem is the ladder didn't reach high enough. Yesterday I solved the problem when I got some two by fours and nailed a few to the tree above the ladder. I could climb to the top of the ladder, and with my feet on the second highest rung, I could lean against the tree and the two by fours. While the tree trunk is large, it is also round. I was concerned about slipping off one-or-the-other side of the trunk without the two by fours to lean on and balance.

I also put a board below the ladder's highest rung to help hold the ladder in place. Partly so the ladder wouldn't slide sideways, and partly because the ladder has only one catch to hold the extension. I didn't mention this before as I didn't want you to worry. The second catch had broken in the past. I have glued the catch to provide some support, but it fell off last Fall and this year I can't find it. The company no longer makes the ladder and therefore I can't get a replacement part.

One catch works, but I don't care to stand on the extension part of the ladder and also cut. Too much stress and tension on the ladder when I do. I don't care to fall from 20 feet in the air. With the board nailed to the tree the ladder was solid.

With my pole saw fully extended I could just reach the branches I wanted to cut off. Last night I started the cut, and cut for an hour.

This afternoon I cut off and on. It is tiring on my arms to cut with the pole saw fully extended. It is hard on the feet and legs to stand a long time on the ladder's rung.

In between cutting I got my harrows from the north pasture over to the yard so I can work on fixing them. I also rode my bicycle uptown to check out computer printers and digital cameras and also run an errand.

On the way back home I stopped by the Badger Store to check their discard pile. As I mulled whether I could use a couple steel structures and a few wooden structures the owner came out of the yard and locked the gate as it was closing time. He commented he has seen me hauling off discard stuff in the past and encouraged to take the stuff tonight. It saves him from hauling it to the landfill. So I came back with a vehicle and hauled the stuff home. Now to figure out how to use some of the items.

Then I was back at cutting on the willow. I was over 2/3 cut through the branch when it started to lean over slightly. It leaned just enough for the partially cut end to trap my saw blade in the cut. Great, just great. No way I can get up there to free my saw.

Then I got the idea of tossing a rope up over a side branch, and from the ground, pull the branch down.

After a handful or crazy throws - including one throw where the rope wrapped around a power line (carefully... unwrap the rope carefully) - finally my weighted rope end went over the branch. I fed the branch rope until the rope's ends were on the ground. I had a very long rope.

From the ground I pulled down on the branch. The branch came down more but only to rest on lower branches. Between the lower branches and the still attached end, I couldn't move the cut branch any more.

Again! Up the ladder I climbed. The good news was the cut end had shifted enough to free my saw blade. Again I cut. And cut. Won't this branch ever fall down?

Suddenly the branch fell!

The full weight fell onto the lower branch. Instead of breaking off the dead end of the branch as I expected and hoped, the lower branch acted as a spring. Once it could bend no more it sprung back as the rest of the falling branch's weight shifted.

I held onto the tree trunk as the huge tree shook and swayed first from no weight of the branch, then from the weight of the branch on the lower branch, then from the absence of the branch's weight as it fell towards the ground.

When the lower branch sprung back it flipped the end of the cut branch over to the garage. Oh no!!

I never expected the cut end of the branch to strike the garage. The cut end was south and the garage was north, and the tips of the cut branch had barely reached over the garage.

The flipped cut end fell on the garage roof and went through it tearing a large hole.

When all was said and done the branch came back out of the hole and off the roof to lay on the ground against the garage door.

Pieces of branches were everywhere.

Oh my goodness! What just happened?!

What a mess.

Pieces of the garage roof and shingles were strewn about inside the garage.

I hauled off a wheelbarrow fully of little pieces. I cut and filled a wheelbarrow full with parts of the large branch. By then the sun has set, and with our dry air I could feel the temperature rapidly drop. Still I was soaked in sweat from all my cutting.

I moved the rest of the branch aside to finish cutting another day.

The good news is the weather is nice and it is not raining. No rain is forecast... until Saturday. I have plans tomorrow as my hiking group is getting together for a hike near Joyce's ranch, then a potluck supper while we all decide on the list of hikes for this year. A busy day. Then Saturday is the annual Creston auction. *sigh* You can bet that it will rain with a hole in my garage roof!

You know, this was my last branch to cut on the willow tree. I can't reach the dead end of the branch so I planned to leave that to fall off on it's own, else wait to see if the branch dies more and get to a point where I can reach to cut it.

My last branch to cut, then I could get to my other Spring chores. Now I have another chore: repair the garage roof. Just what I need - more work. As Tony told me tonight when I borrowed his camera again - you always have something to do and never get bored.

Yup. A girlfriend would come in handy right now. First to save me from myself. Second, to rub my sore and tired muscles from all my cutting and lifting today. Oh well, to paraphrase the Rolling Stones, we can't always get what we want.

*sigh*

Before and after photos:

View from under the north branches... notice the top branches are gone. See the two long dead branches that remain? Those are the branches that acted as a slingshot as they bent down then up and flung the cut branch over to the garage roof. They don't look that strong, do they?

The cut branch and the garage roof. ...why me?! At least the branch didn't stay stuck in the roof! It is so heavy I wouldn't have been able to pull it out.