Timber!

 At the front of our property stood a misshapen maple that had been topped by a storm some years back. It was an odd-shaped thing: most of the limbs were on the north side and they hung nearly to the ground when fully leaved, making it difficult for me to mow. Various limbs slowly died.

 The tree had to go. Yesterday it did.

 After removing the top branches, Bob makes the first cut on the trunk. Tom stands in the background beside the lawn tractor and cart which I used to remove logs as they were cut.

 I figured the tree was about twenty feet tall (Tom estimated higher) but Bob soon had it lying on the ground and began dividing it up. He had to stop at one point and drive over to the hardware store and buy a new chain for the saw. The old one wasn't sharp enough to handle to job.

 Cutting the trunk into manageable pieces so they could be hauled away. Even so, the weight bogged down the lawn tractor and at one point I couldn't get it started. I put a charger on it for about half an hour and all was well again.

 This maple was here when we moved in nearly 31 years ago. It was a pretty tree then, shaped perfectly. But some summer thunderstorm took the entire top out of it and it was never the same.

 Just about done ...

 The interior of the tree had a pretty pattern. The wood had a rich warm glow.

 All that's left is to cut the stump off as near to the ground as possible. In the years ahead I'll mow around this spot. In a few decades it will be gone. Tom and I plan on plating a memorial tree near this spot, in honor of both Mom and Dad. It'll likely be an oak, perhaps a French Oak that will hold it's leaves throughout the winter. But that's a project for next spring.