Much tree progress

When the neighbour, who wanted more light in his garden, started cutting down a big tree on the boundary between his garden and mine, I thought I would have a lot of work on. The deal is that he drops all bits of tree in my garden, and that I get the firewood. And he has a chainsaw, so he cuts the big bits 2 size. He tends to leave what doesn't need a chainsaw for cutting.

After that first day I removed all the side branches from the wood I wanted to use as firewood, took the cut bits into the garage and stacked them, threw away what I considered too flimsy, and cut the thinner but still usable branches to size as well. And I expected him to create a new load for me pretty soon after.

It turned out he took a break. There was nothing new coming for a while! Until, at the very end of February, he had the spirit again. 

It turned out that this time, he meant business. I was just working on clearing the first batch when he already showed up to create a second. For a while we were both working on it. He cut two wedges out of trunk that stuck out into my garden, until it sagged with a "crack". I wondered if we should somehow get a rope around it and bring it down, but he had a more pragmatic approach. He went back into his own garden, from which he could kick the trunk. That immediately brought it down! Neatly into my berry shrub.

What I found on the Saturday afternoon 

Work for me to do

Then he brought this one down: more work

I helped him cut that trunk in two, but then I had to go and do other things. And the day after I wasn't going to be there. But when I came back I saw that he had also managed to take down the remaining two trunks. He has done it! An amateur with a battery-powered Aldi- bought mini chainsaw, and he got rid of the entire tree. So his work is now done. Mine sure isn't yet! But at the end of it, I'll have a lovely a load of firewood, and a little think back on these days in a year or two, snug by the fire…