Blue Spruce Down

 Finally the Blue Spruce near the southwest corner of the house has died and today (05/03) Tom and I removed it.

 Tom first used the chain saw to remove all the lower limbs so that I could stand a ladder against the tree and attach a rope as high as possible, The tree is the one just left of Tom in this picture. He's cutting the lower branches into smaller sections in this picture.
 The tree, of course, was here when we moved in 33 years ago, I don't remember it being particularly smaller - though it surely was. I'd say it was about twenty-five feet tall when Tom cut it down. In the early years it was bothered by bag worms and I'd spray it liberally each spring. But slowly the tree succumbed to something (probably old age) and this year it was mostly brown. It was an eyesore and a fire hazard.

 We pretty much laid the tree down right where we wanted it. It was leaning towards the garage (not good) but Tom notched the tree on the southwest side so it would fall towards the driveway. I, of course, pulled on the rope in the same direction as he made the final cut. It toppled perfectly into the gravel.

 There's lots of lumber in even a small tree. Tom first cut off all the branches and then cut them into smaller pieces so they could be carried to the burn barrel. Much of it has already been burnt. The larger logs from the trunk were added to the woodpile. Campfires in the years ahead are a possibility. Pine burns too fast for the fireplace.

 Eventually Tom cut another section off the stump so that it is more even with the ground. We'll give it a year or two to weather and then we'll burn it out.

 This corner of the yard looks suddenly bare. But I like the ease I'll have of mowing the grass and don't plan on replacing the tree. It was too close to the maple anyway.

 And so yet another pine is lost ...