Timber!!!

With no doubt---the title of my blog says it all.  We live in the "woods". Big time!  Some of the Fir, Oak and Bay trees are very old. Some are falling from beetle infestations, others from old age. Some lean a bit.  Like this one in the middle of this picture that had a definite swagger that was aimed towards the house. It seemed every time we walked out to the edge of the lawn and looked down the bank at it, it had leaned just a bit more.

We decided perhaps it had become a danger and should come down.  So last week the tree cutters came and started the process of taking it down.

They are amazing to watch.  They start the climb and cut branches as they go, but leave about 6 or 7 inches of each branch.  This creates a stepping peg or ladder so they can keep climbing to the very top of the tree. This tree was approx. 80' feet tall.  Then the process of cutting the tree down in 2' foot round sections and pushing them off to let them fall to the ground below starts.  This is very hard work and also dangerous.  The cuts need to be angled just right, and strong upper body strength is definitely needed to get the rounds to topple down and away from the tree cutter.

 

We use wood to heat our home. Once the rounds have dried, the splitting and stacking starts.

If a Tree Falls

If a tree falls in the forest
with no ear to hear its fall,
does it make a crackling thunder
or descend in silent sprawl?

If a book remains unopened
and no reader turns its page,
does it still embrace a story
or trap words inside a cage?

–Laura Purdie Salas, from BookSpeak