going, going. . .gone

Trees are such a gift. I love that my house is so surrounded with trees that once when a realitor looked at the yard, she said
"I'd call it. . . wooded."

The trees have provided much needed shade to our house in this desert town.

Ours is the coolest house on the block because of those trees. Well and the whole house fan.

So to randomly chop down a tree is NOT in my nature.


But this locust on the north side of the house was doing no good any more. It had a huge branch that was rubbing on the roof. And the other branch was causing the neighbor to be afraid to burn in his fireplace.

Sailor cut those branches off earlier in the spring and we still don't have it all cleaned up from that episode.

Recently Sailor talked to a guy at work, Paul, who has a bucket truck and has a side business of cutting down trees. He also has a lumber mill. Any trees he cuts down that the owner doesn't want, he saws into lumber and with which he makes the most beautiful furniture.

We cut down an elm in the back corner of our lot which was shading the garden. We had him make the straight part into lumber. Sailor built a cradle for our son out of that tree, at his request. What a sweet sentimental thing to do.

Well, Paul showed up and began to saw. It was amazing what he could do in an hour.

It took us all the next day clipping, sorting, throwing, sawing and hauling to clean it up. All that was left was the stump.

He came a few days later and picked up the straight lumber up with his fork lift. This lumber will sit in his yard for several years to dry, then he will saw it into lumber.

We hauled away 5 truck-loads of branches to the dump. Usually we strip it down to sticks and break them apart, then bundle the sticks into wire bundles and stack them to be used for kindling.

I started doing this, but Sailor said we didn't have any more room for the tiny stuff.

We separated out all the dry branches, and the neighbor lady came over with her little cart and claimed them for her fireplace. What a cute lady. I love her.

The medium sized logs were hauled to the back to dry for several years. They will be used in the fireplace.

It really freaked out the cats. They have a little cat path worn down between the neighbor's house and ours which was covered with branches. They had to use the sidewalk.

The car even got dusty.