Another Pine Taken Down

  The pines continue to die and today Bob used his new chain saw to drop the largest. He stayed and cut it into manageable pieces, too. Tom and I did the clean-up.

 This pine has been dead some years. It stood along the north lawn line and at the rear of our property (west). Since it had been dead so long I worried about the top branches falling as Bob made the cuts but he opted not to wear a hard hat and felt it was safe  enough.

 Much of the tree had already fallen, a branch at a time. There wasn't a whole lot of trimming needed.

 Tom and I carried away the branches Bob cut.  Tom had a fire going in the burn barrel and he managed to get much of the debris burnt today. Here he is loading up a cart with the smaller logs. Those we added to our woodpile.

 Even with few side branches remaining, there was plenty of debris to clear. After the largest pieces had been hauled off, I raked the smaller branches and bark  and moved some to the meadow where they'll serve as kindling as we burn out the stump.

 The base of the tree was thick enough that Bob had to cut it into manageable logs. Those we left near the stump where a neighbor will pick  them up to burn  this winter.

 Bob finished by cutting the stump nearer the ground.

How old was the  tree? I can easily count 33 rings but I know the tree was here and mature when we moved here in 1987. That's 34 years  ago. So it's anybody's guess. Want to try?

 One additional note: when the tree fell it drove two branches into the ground, They were driven so deep I can't get them out. I have dug around them, rocked them back and forth as much as possible, pulled and ever used a pry bar. Tom says the only thing he can think of it cutting  them off below surface level and leaving  them.

 I can imagine these things popping up out of the ground in China!

 That's the burn ring smoking in the background as the stump smolders.

Later: More than 24 hours have passed. We started the stump burning yesterday afternoon and it's still smoking this evening. We'll have to add some more hot coals to finish the job but the stump is already greatly reduced: