Free to a good home
Look at all those BTUs on the ground!
Then I got down to business for real. I felled four or five large ashes and cut back a whole bunch of scrub. The scrub went onto one of two brush piles I'm building. Gives a home to rabbits and such, and means I don't have to haul everything off. Yeah, it takes about ten years to completely decompose, but it's not like I'm in a hurry on this.
Providing cover for wildlife
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
The biggest ash was probably 60 feet or more. I dropped it beautifully, but its topmost branches caught in another tree's top hamper, and there it stood -- cut off and still upright. It was a highly dangerous situation. It was leaning, so I cut a chunk away from the bottom, and it looked to come down, but still hung up. I got out my tractor (praise God, it's still running even after that battery-killing deep freeze we had a couple weeks ago). Tied off a heavy rope with a timber hitch around the hanging tree and affixed the other end to the tractor and pulled away. The tree broke loose, but then settled more or less upright again; the top branches were still interlaced with the other tree. Tied it off again, trying to pull it away from the other tree, but broke the rope twice.
I finally got the tree all the way down. Glad I didn't have to leave it hanging there to clobber a trespasser. I did some more cleanup, and then it was time to go.
But first, I had a look at the Pishon, flowing easily over its rocks down below. I never get tired of looking at the creek. This is what my bathing pool looks like these days, though I decided a polar bear plunge was not in the cards today, and came home dirty.
Looks invigorating
I'll pass.
Maybe one more big day of playing lumberjack, and then it's on to other chores. I'm taking advantage of as many clear days as I can get, though I still have to rest up three or four days after a trip over and back. Not as young as I used to be, and all that. But still, it feels so good to be out in the woods. My mood is brightening with the longer days (just in time for the mood-killing Daylight Saving Time to come).