Day 40

We were up by 8 today because I wanted to get going on that tree by the apartment early.  It was warm so I went out to look at the tree wearing shorts and a t-shirt.  I spent about 5 minutes planning things.  During that time I was bit by at least 4 mosquitoes.  So I went back into the house and changed into long pants and a long sleeved shirt.

I started by cutting some low hanging branches and moving them to the front of the trailer out of the way.  Then I had Ellen use a cord to put tension on some of the higher branches as I cut them.  That way I was sure where they would fall.  I had to get out the ladder to reach a couple of them.  Even with that the tallest one just missed the sewer when it fell.  The lowest part of the trunk still has some live branches on it.  So I left the bottom 8 feet of the tree and sprayed sealant on the cut.  Hopefully it will survive.

I showed Ellen how to drive the tractor and she hauled the branches that I cut off from the tree to the burn pile while I did the cutting.  That made things go a lot faster.  When they were all cut up she started burning while I hauled up the branches that I cut yesterday.  Then I cut down another tree in the side yard and cut it up.  I also finished cutting up the big trunk of the first tree.  When I finished hauling the entire area was clean.  Three trees have been taken care of.  By the time that was done I was too tired to do anything else.

That makes 4 of 16 or 17 trees that need to be cut down.  I figure that someone would charge $100/tree to cut them down and haul them off.  That means that we've already made back the $100 that the pole saw cost.

I spent the rest of the day watching football and surfing.  Tomorrow we'll have to deal with the investments.