Wouldn't want it to break and fall on the house, so the most logical thing is to cut it down. I could use the wood next year anyhow. The question is, how do I cut it without it falling on the house?
Plan A - Cut it and pull it out of the way with the truck. Git out my 25 foot chain and wrap it around the base of the tree. Cut it below the chain and pull it from the bottom. Cut it up and throw the limbs in the burn pile. Good plan all around.
Got the chain out and the wife says "Maybe the chain should be a little higher". OK, makes sense. Moved the chain up another three or four feet. Hooked the other end to the truck (bumper hitch) and tightened the chain. Good so far. Got the chain saw, cut a notch about 18 inches from the ground and another cut on the other side. Cut about 1/3 of the way, stepped away and waited to see what happened. Nothing. Ok, cut it a little futher. Half way into the tree, stop and see what happened. Nothing again. Ok, cut the rest of the way to the notch. The tree dropped a little and pinned the chain saw blade in the tree. Crap........
Got in the truck with the intention of pulling the tree off the chain saw and off the roof. Nope, didn't happen that way. The tree dropped from the cut, landed on the ground, and immediately stood up and fell the other way. Good for the house, bad for the direction it fell. A couple of trees
guided it down, but not far enough to the side that it missed the truck.
Fortunately for me, sitting in the truck, it only slid down the side of the truck and didn't hit it a foot to the right or it would have hit right where I was sitting. As it was, it took off the side view mirror and put several dents in the drivers side and hood.
A couple of pictures for your pleasure.
The only thing I can say for this is that, better it hit the truck than the house and it would have crashed into the house, probably during the next storm. So we'll see what the insurance says about this.
Everybody is getting the cat pictures since Joe (Flowing Waters) started this 5 days ago, so here's my contribution of my two doing what they do best. Sleeping.
Double click and you can see them better.
Next thing. My friend Yuki is from Japan and he has a brother and his brother's family there. Yuki got an email and everything is OK with them. Only thing was that it took his brother 10 hours to get home from his office, after the earthquake.
That's it for now. Until I can find something else interesting.
Mark
Yikes! I didn't think people tried this kind of thing any more what with all the youtube videos you can see with this very same thing. You got lucky, mister. Glad you're OK.
ReplyDeleteWhoops there it is!!! had the same thing happen once many moons ago,they say the best laid plans of mice & men often go astray,as long as your okay the truck can be fixed,bet the wife had something to say about that.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about the truck. When I need a tree cut, I call my wife. As she loves to tell me, she was a forestry major at The Ohio State and can drop a tree on a dime. Hope the repair bill is small.
ReplyDeleteYou said "40 foot tree" and "25 foot chain," I was expecting the worse. Worked out ok, a little damage but could have been much worse in many ways.
ReplyDeleteBest not to try out for Axe Men!
ReplyDeleteGood to hear your friends family is okay.
Many aren't so fortunate.
Glad you are ok, Mark. Glad to see the house was not damaged, so in that sense, it was successful. It's too bad about your truck, but, like Clif said it could have been worse. At our age, maybe that is something that should call for more manpower from somewhere.
ReplyDeleteThere are a couple of things that, for some reason, just frighten me. one is electricity, the other is chain saws and falling trees.
ReplyDeleteI just know one of the two of them will eventually do me in
Cool cats
Ahhhhh, so the fisherman fancies himself as a lumberjack? That is why I hire out those jobs. With my luck it would have hit the house and the truck.
ReplyDeleteGlad you are safe.
See, Mark, you couldn't stay away from us too long:)
ReplyDeleteGlad to see you're still posting! Too many of the blogs I read have been on hiatus lately.
ReplyDelete