Our big silver maple, which was our biggest front yard shade tree, no longer stands. It was partially dead, and loaded with dangerously crumbling limbs, but we resisted cutting it down for a long time. One of the dead limbs was home to a pair of blue birds this year, who raised several clutches. They've been gone for a few weeks, and I watched the tree at dusk several nights to make sure it wasn't a home for bats.
Brandon was brave, and stood beneath the dead limbs to saw away at the trunk. His chain saw was a bit small for such a large tree trunk. The saw also has a leaky gas tank and a dull blade, so the irritation of making the saw function was a nice distraction from the fear. I really wanted to hide from the whole experience, but needed to watch so I would be ready to respond to an emergency.
He managed to saw a big slice out of the trunk on the side it was leaning to, and then he was ready to make the back cut that would fell it. Partially dead trees are dangerous to cut down because the rotten wood inside can make it unpredictable. Also, once the tree begins to move, the dead limbs could fall down. I was so nervous my pounding heart made it hard to hold my phone still so I could capture the fall.
Once we could hear the trunk start to pop and crack, and I thought it was about to fall, I started filming, but it took almost four minutes for it to finally drop. Brandon kept making more cuts and backing off, then making more cuts. I could hardly stand it! The video above it just the last forty seconds, when the last cut finally takes it down. Whew! We both felt exhausted, like we had been for long heart pounding run.
1 comment:
Great Job!
Very Scary.
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