Willow tree, done

I've been busy the past few days but I thought I'd mention that I am done cutting on my willow tree.  I finished the same day I cut the section of the trunk with my pole saw.   Once I cut that section I fired up my chain saw to cut the final two sections.  To warm up the chain saw I cut up an old branch out back.  When I walked back to the tree a man drove up in his pickup.  He came to offer me the use of his chainsaw as he had seen me cutting on the tree with my pole saw the past few days when he drove by on the road.  He thought I didn't have a chain saw.  I explained why I couldn't use my chainsaw until now.

What took me three days to saw through with my pole saw took me five to ten minutes using my chainsaw.  As with others sections of this tree, the cut trunk balanced on a very small section that was uncut.  With a push from the handle of my pole saw the cut trunk fell right where I wanted it to as it missed everything.

The final section to cut I reached without a ladder.  First I had to reposition the truck as it didn't quite reach the tree.  Again I had to drive back and forth and back and forth and so on in order to not hit the power lines.

Then about another five to ten minutes with the chainsaw and the final section was cut.  This section also missed everything but the ground.  But it came close to hitting my concrete pit as the trunk fell inches away from it.

I had to cut the trunk sections up into smaller pieces where they fell as they were too large and heavy to lift and move.

Willow tree, trunk cut by pole saw

Today I finally cut through the willow tree trunk.  Wednesday I spent most of the day cutting on the trunk and went from 1/3 to over 2/3 cut.  This afternoon I finished the cut.  Thank goodness as my arms were getting tired.  Even with an overnight's rest Wednesday night, my arms were tired from the get-go this morning.  But as I got closer to cutting through the trunk my adrenalin kicked in and I forgot about my tired arms.

Not much wind today for once which made cutting nicer.

As I neared the end I debated whether to toss a rope over the tree trunk to pull it down and "guide" it to where I wanted it to land.  But I didn't feel like climbing off the truck to get enough rope to go over the tree and reach the ground.  I was reasonably confident the trunk would fall correctly.  Still, between the shape of the trunk, the length of the trunk, the direction the trunk grew, and the shape and direction of my cut, and the last part of the trunk to be cut... all this factored in how and where the trunk would fall.  As it got nearer to falling I made sure I was away from the edge of the truck and the trunk.

The willow wood is solid and with only a little bit left of the tree to cut the trunk balanced on falling.  So I took the end of my pole saw and gave the trunk a little push.  Also this would guide the trunk away from the truck.

With a flash the trunk fell.  It was so fast I didn't really see it fall.  The trunk had hit the ground by the time I looked over the edge. The trunk fell on the ground and missed everything else.  Then it bounced and twisted and headed for the garage door.  One end of the trunk bumped against the garage door marking it with dirt but not damaging it.

Success!!

See the spot of dirt on the garage door?

The cut was 13 1/2 inches in diameter. No wonder it took me several days of cutting to saw through it.  I regret I forgot to measure the trunk's length.  It was at least six feet long.  The trunk was heavy enough that I couldn't lift it.  I could only lift one end at a time and had to cut it up here with a chain saw before moving it.

Near my glove you can see the little bit of wood left before the trunk would fall.

Working between snow squalls

So much for my plans for the day.  I planned to finish cutting the willow trunk.  However the weather had other plans.  First the wind was blowing preventing me from using a ladder and cutting with a chain saw.  Then I found the cut I had made Monday had swelled so it was difficult to get my saw blade into the cut.  I am not sure if the swelling was because the tree trunk is getting water and sap in preparation for Spring and growth, or if the rain from the night before caused the swelling.  By the time I cut down to where I left off on Monday the wind picked up even more.  It blew so hard I was concerned that, if I did complete the cut, the tree trunk wouldn't fall straight down but would be blown towards the truck.  And the wind was making it difficult for me to stand on top of the truck.  So I called it quits for the day.

I then raked the rocks off the lawn along each side the driveway.  The rocks got on the lawn when I shoveled snow off my driveway over Winter.  I have over 200 ft of driveway.

When I finished raking I worked on fixing my wooden cattle feeder.  If you remember from when I had cattle several years ago a few of the heifers wanted to stand in the hay in the feeder and they broke a few boards on the bottom. I had two years to fix the feeder and now here I am finally fixing it. After repairing the broken boards I raised the feeder's floor by a few inches so the feeder is not as deep.  I also lowered the feeder's overall height by an inch.  Intermittent snow squalls slowed my work.   By dark I had everything done except putting the feeder's bottom boards back on.  That won't take long to do tomorrow.

This is the feeder flipped upside down as I am working on it.

In the morning I heard a pack of coyotes barking and howling along the ridge to the NW.  In the evening, just as I quit work, I heard the large pack of coyotes barking and howling between the river and ridge to the SW of the ranch.  The coyotes may have been chasing something, like one of the deer that stays in that area.

I checked on my hay stored in the barn.  The hay is green and smells fresh.  A good smell.

At times the snow was pretty intense...

Willow tree and the truck, day 2

Monday afternoon I worked on the willow tree some more.  First I repositioned the truck to be further away from the section of the tree trunk I was cutting.  I don't want the cut piece to fall on the truck.  Because of the low electric lines I had to drive very carefully. I had a small area in which to maneuver.  Forward and back and forward and back and over and over.  Crank the steering wheel one way, crank it another way and over and over. I couldn't see the electric lines while in the truck so I had to get out a number of times to double check I wasn't too close.  Finally I got the truck to where I wanted - which was next to, but not under, where I wanted to cut.

The next challenge was that the next section of the tree I wanted to cut was still well above me.  I could reach the tree standing on the truck and using a pole saw but this was slow cutting.  I used a step ladder and set it right next to the edge and then used bungee cords to hold the ladder in place.  I found that with a chainsaw and standing on the step ladder I could only reach and cut only about 1/5 of the trunk along its side.  Any further reach was dicey as I was on the edge and it was a long way down and I have a slight fear of heights.

I got an extension ladder and placed it against the tree. After again using bungee cords to tie the bottom of the ladder to the truck so it wouldn't slide, I climbed the ladder up to the tree.  But I had several problems.  First is that I am left handed and using the chainsaw requires two hands.  The cut is on the right side.  That ruled out the chain saw.  I thought I would use a hand saw as I can saw right handed.  However I found the whole tree trunk wobbled as I cut and, between the wobbling and having the ground way down under me, unnerved me.  I felt safer standing on the truck.

I considered cutting the tree trunk a few feet lower and chancing the extra amount would fall away from the truck, but by the time I was ready to switch back to setting up the step ladder the wind came up.  The wind direction blew towards the tree and the side of the truck.  I didn't feel comfortable going up the ladder in the wind.

So I spent a few hours using the pole saw.  It was either that or waiting until Tuesday in hopes the wind would not blow or it would not rain.  I didn't cut through the trunk but made a good dent.

It started to rain a few hours after I quit cutting for the day.  If the weather improves Tuesday I will take a fresh look at the situation and come up with a solution.

Willow tree and the truck, start

Saturday when I was at the annual Creston auction I ran across Wyatt, one of my neighbors.  He has a truck he modified to help him build one of his buildings.  He modified the truck to act as a scaffold.   The top of the truck is 12 feet high.  A good base on which to place a ladder.  Wyatt also has a 10 ft ladder he lent me to use.

Sunday Wyatt brought his truck here for me to use. The truck was so high it barely fit under the entrance pole and sign over my driveway.  I had to crawl up on top of the truck platform and pull the sign up so it wouldn't catch on the platform top.

Then the next challenge was the electric lines that go between my house and my well.   The platform had a few two by fours sticking up above the platform on one side.  I used my chainsaw to cut them down to the platform height.  Then while Wyatt drove slowly I used a long board to push the bottom line up and over the top of the platform.  Thankfully the bottom line is not the live wire.

Even with the ladder I still had to use my pole saw to reach and cut the upper part of the trunk - in the photo the part of the tree that is above and to the right of the ladder.  The wood at the top where I cut was dead.  That, and the angle from which I was cutting, may be why the cutting was so hard as the saw blade would get caught in the cut, especially when the cut was deep.  Near the end I tried to toss a rope over the end of the trunk to pull the cut section down.  However... after many throws, I only got the rope over the tree once, and the rope wouldn't catch.  So I went back to cutting.  Finally the cut section fell.  And fell perfectly as it missed the garage, electric line and the truck.  Another success.

Morning snow

It snowed last night before I went to bed.  The snow stopped by morning but it took much of the day to melt away.  At the end of today there was still some snow in shady areas.

Another view of a female box elder tree

When I was up on a ladder trimming my weeping willow tree earlier this week I looked over at my box elder trees.   Here is another view comparing the male and female trees.  The female box elder tree is in the middle and the male trees are the two trees on each side of the female.

As you can see the female tree is still holding on to her seeds.

Willow tree cutting, south trunk

Thursday the weather was better than predicted.  I decided to trim some from the south trunk of the willow tree.   The way the trunk has grown it would fall towards the house if it ever fell.  Ever since I last trimmed the dead part at the top in 2007 I have looked at this trunk and imagined that if the trunk ever fell over, whether the trunk would go through the roof and wall of the house.

The top part of trunk had little growth.  So I cut off the top four and a half feet of the tree trunk down close to where branches grow.  After I was done I measured the tree trunk and found it was now 17 feet long.  The distance from the base of the tree to the house is a little over 19 feet.  So my earlier eying the trunk got it correct, it would have went through the house's wall and roof by several feet if it ever fell.   Fortunately the trunk is healthy with no signs it will ever fall.

Because...

• I could stand with one foot on the top rung of an extension ladder and the other foot on a sturdy tree branch, 
• the trunk is 15 inches thick at this point, and 
• my chain saw bar is 16 inches long, 

I was able to use a chain saw to cut the trunk.  Years ago when I cut the trunk above this spot, due to the precarious position I was in, I had to use hand saws.  Then it took days for me to cut through the trunk.

Even with the chain saw it took me fifteen to twenty minutes to cut through the trunk as I had to rest a few times.

Due to my position I didn't have much leeway in how I cut the trunk.  I wanted to cut the trunk so it fell away from the concrete sidewalk leading to the house. The trunk is heavy and I didn't want to chance that it would crack and break the concrete.  I did pretty good but the trunk did fall on the edge of the sidewalk.  The falling trunk dug the ground next to the sidewalk and made a mark on the sidewalk as seen in the photos below.

Here are some before (going back a few days to when I started) and after photos...

Its hard to remember that in the 1990s the weeping willow's branches brushed against the roof of the garage.

Someday I'll get the right trunk cut down to size once I figure out how to get safely high.

Willow tree cutting, second branch

I successfully cut the second willow tree branch.

Another view...

I sawed on that branch for hours and hours and hours over two days.  It was hard to bear down on a pole saw when it is fully extended and against a branch way above my head.  I even took a file to the saw's teeth to sharpen them up a couple times to get a better bite into the tree.

Finally late Wednesday the branch started to crack a little.  While I was confident the branch would miss the pickup when it fell, still I drove the pickup away several feet.  Then I resumed sawing on the branch.  Five to ten minutes later a few more - and louder - cracks.  Still the branch remained attached.

Then I got the idea of tossing a rope over the branch to pull it down.  That way I could guide the branch to miss the pickup, garage, electrical lines, and the concrete hole in the ground.  And I wouldn't be high on a ladder on pallets on a pickup with no place to go in case the branch came my way.

I attached a small weight to a rope and tossed it up.  After a dozen tries I finally got the rope over the branch.  I didn't have to pull too hard and the branch broke off and fell. It fell perfectly as it missed everything.  You can see I had some extra wooden pallets on top of the concrete hole so the branch wouldn't break it in case it fell on the concrete.

Here is the branch after it was cut.  On the initial photos when it was high up on the tree it didn't look that big, but it was.  The bottom of the cut shows where I pulled the branch from the tree.

I would like to cut the top of the tree down some more but to do that I would have to get higher up.  It looks like I will have to wait until I get another method of getting on high as I am not too keen on stacking more pallets to get higher.

Willow tree ladder

I wanted to cut another high branch on my willow tree.  This branch is thicker than the branch I had just cut.  After quite some time cutting on the branch I decided I needed to be higher so I didn't have to reach so high to cut the branch.

My local neighborhood building supply store had some extra wooden pallets for giveaway and I used those pallets to increase my height.

To keep the pallets from wobbling I tied them down with bungee cords.  I also have a pallet the perfect size to fit between the legs of the ladder.  So while I was high up (12 1/2 ft to the top of the ladder), the ladder for the most part is stable (as long as I don't get crazy on it).  It is a little tricky to climb up onto the ladder, especially with a long pole saw.

As you can see I still have a ways to reach the middle branch on the right side. If you consider the peak of the garage is the second story, the branch I want to cut is three stories high.

Btw - Tammy wanted me to clarify that with her fractured shoulder she couldn't help me with the tree cutting by holding the ladder while she visited me.  And without her help she was afraid I would fall off the ladder and end up in the hospital.  You do have to admit... to many people this looks like a risky proposition.

Stay tuned...!

Willow tree cutting, one branch

Today I cut a branch from my willow tree.  A high branch.  I wanted to cut the branch before the sap flows.  As willow trees have lots of water it is much easier to cut their large branches before the sap and water flows.

I only cut one branch.  Cutting a branch while standing on a step ladder using a full extended pole saw takes some effort.  And time as it is slow going.   My arms are going to feel sore tomorrow!

To reach the branch I had to place a step ladder on top of some wooden pallets I had placed in the bed of my pickup.  I used bungee straps to hold the ladder in place.  I had thought of doing this while Tammy was here as she could hold the ladder for me and spot me but she declined saying "I don't want to take you to the hospital after you fall."

Note the pole saw leaning against the pickup in the first photo.  This is before I extended the saw its full length.  Once I did so, and standing on the ladder, I could just reach the branch.

As you can see in this photo the electric wire was a pain in the way.  However I had no choice as this was the only spot for the pickup that allowed me to reach the branch and also be away from where the branch fell.  As it is the falling branch missed the pickup by a foot.  The photos don't show it well, but the branch was between the one electric line you can see and another electric line you can barely see in the upper right of the photo.  I missed both electric lines.  *whew*

This gives you a better idea as to the height involved... (if you click on the photo to see a larger version you can just make out where I had cut the branch)

Here are before and after photos...

Here is a photo from 2007 when I last did major cutting on the tree.  As you can see, back then I cut a branch that was above the other branches.  That is the branch that bounced off the lower branches and flipped onto and through my garage roof.  If interested in the story, this link will get you to past posts about my willow tree: http://tallpinesranch.blogspot.com/search/label/Willow%20tree