I finally finished the tree trimming on the box elder trees over the patio. I earlier mentioned how windy it was the first day I started the trimming. The second day I moved from standing on a ladder to standing in the tree. The wind picked up strong again just as I started the trimming. So another slow day of trimming.
Every day when I started I thought I would finish the trimming that day. Nope. I found that I am more cautious now than when I last trimmed this tree back in May 2019. So I went slower. And I found when I went up in the tree I found more dead branches to cut. And when walking around the tree at different angles I found more branches to be cut. And each day I would notice more to cut. Would it ever end?
I thought the trimming would take a day or two. Today I finally finished the work. I thought today I would be only hauling off the cut branches. But then I decided to try to toss a rope over and around some higher dead branches I can't reach via ladder. Donna didn't think I could throw so high. I tied the end of the rope to an extra pipe fitting. It took a number of attempts but I finally got the rope up and over a few branches. I was able to break off a couple smaller dead branches. But I found the slightly larger dead branches were not dead enough to break off by pulling on them. Maybe if I attached the rope to the pickup and drove off the branch would break, but I had branches already on the ground to haul off. I'll let those dead branches die a little more and try again some day.
I broke off only a small part of these branches. The rest wouldn't break off, even though they look like they would break.
Here is some of my earlier work on the trimming.
The tree branches split here many years ago. Now it is a place to stand when I am in the tree.
Don't know why, but the view in the photo is odd. The branches are going out, and up, but in this view they look like they are going down. I went up - very slowly and carefully - on the branches in the middle and upper parts of the photo, partially standing at times on the branch that goes down to the lower right corner, that is actually going mostly out.
The branch in the middle of the photo and going up the upper right corner, is starting to die at its end. So I chain sawed and cut this branch close by the main tree trunk.
The cut branch.
Where I cut the branch near the tree trunk. The branch was partially cut by the chain saw, then the branch fell. That is why the rest of the branch is a lighter color. The bark pulled off the remaining part of the branch as it fell.
Then back to ladder work another day as that was safer to do than try to move out on the branch way up high.
In the photo after this one, that was where the ladder was. I had done some earlier trimming. Then I decided to trim the end of the branch the ladder was against. This branch was still good, but the section I cut off was just beyond the patio. So it was easy to chainsaw.
Of the three branch ends, standing on the ladder I used a long pole saw to reach (barely) and trim the right most branch. That branch was not so big but took me a long time to cut as I had to be careful as I moved and also had to take a number of breaks to rest. I didn't want to get tired. That is when mistakes are made.
To protect my patio roof I placed a crappy board on the patio roof. The fiberglass patio roof is old and bad. I plan to replace that roof but that is another day - and year if I can wait and do other projects first. This board worked as it saved the fiberglass even if the board was slightly cracked from the impact.
I chain sawed this branch. It is the middle branch of the tree cut branches in the previous photo. I could just reach the branch using a chain saw.
You can see the cut when you look at the top of the ladder. I didn't want to chance the branch would not fall straight down, so I moved the ladder over to continue the cut. Even so, after cutting some more on the branch I didn't want to finish the cut when holding the chainsaw out when standing on the ladder. Sometimes when cutting through a branch with your arms held way out it can be hard to stop the chainsaw movement after the cut is complete. So I got a rope and tossed it over the branch. Then I stood on the ground and pulled the cut part of the branch down.
The view after I removed the branch.
The cut branch. And you can see how little of the branch held the branch onto the rest of the branch until I pulled on it.
Another chainsawed branch. Again I used the board to protect the side part of the patio. Initially I thought of standing on a ladder and using a pole saw to cut a small part of this branch that looked to be dying. Then I thought, nah, make it easier for me and climb up the tree, trim some of a side branch so I could move out on this branch to then reach a side branch of the side branch I was on. It was slow, but it worked. In the two photos you can see how long this side-side branch was.
Some of my cut branches. Plus the main pile of cut branches. At the bottom of the second photo are the branches from the evergreen tree near this pile. That tree was what started my tree trimming.
So these box elder trees are about halfway trimmed. I can't go any higher either by using ladders or climbing in the tree. I remembered a tall Lombardi popular tree down the road that was cut to half its height last year. That tree seemed to be as tall as my box elder trees. So one evening I rode my bicycle over and talked to the people as to how they cut their tree. I remember seeing a scissor lift there. Maybe I can get higher if I rented and used one. They got high but not high enough. They then hired a person who cuts trees. He also used a scissor lift to get up high, then still had to climb up the tree manually and cut smaller sections of the tree so the cut sections didn't fall on the house next to the tree. I asked how much it cost him to rent a scissor lift. A thousand dollars. Okay.... maybe I'll think of another method to get high to trim my tree. Another day. Another year.
My trimmed trees.
I am happy to be finally done with my tree trimming. Now on to my other projects.
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