In a fit of something or other, I managed (with help!) to get two long overdue trimming projects done.  The first was taking off a major limb on a multi-trunked Sugar Maple.  This oddly shaped tree could be entirely removed.  But its odd shape adds a nice bit of whimsy.  However, this branch, a good four inches in diameter, was casting entirely too much shade on several shrubs and one of the chestnut trees.  So it went.  With a great deal of sawing (an alternative and appropriate name for sugar maple is rock maple, this one was definitely that), and an extra set of hands to catch it and take its weight off of the chestnut tree, since the only place to drop it was On the tree.

Then, on the theory that no one was watching, I had the desire to do so, and it wasn’t windy: I shimmied a good 15 plus feet up the hemlock beyond the big garden.*  This hemlock’s sole purpose in life is to help block the road.  We do not need nor desire a one sided, leaning, 50 foot plus evergreen in that location.  So I cut its head off.  I was smart enough to only cut it three-quarters through while up in it and smart enough to climb the north side (that has essentially no branches) so that I wouldn’t be under the falling section if I cut too far.  Then I wandered off and, I confess, used the pole saw to finish the cut and bring it down.  This worked admirably….except for bending the head of the pole saw.  I can’t claim the fixing of that. Jamie fix!

Anyway, two jobs done that needed doing.  Perhaps not done in the most approved fashion, but such is life.

 

*Nice view of the hilltop from up there, by the way.