At least it isn't death BY chainsaw.
The woods cleaning got underway this past weekend, under cloudy skies and a bit of a chill. The tree top that has been down for almost a year was cut and cleared. Things were going very well indeed. Using the oldest hands to the youngest, wood was cut, stacked, and loaded.
Nice lunch break; moving along quite nicely. Restart the chainsaw. Clunk. Try again. Clang. Switch it up, new user. Pull and putter, choke. Dead.
So, only about a third of the work done but it does look nice. One tree top gone and a few dead, small ones out. The uprooted one is still there, having done a "face-plant" in one of the big winds last summer. I have a friend who is a tree person and he tells me I need to keep the maple trees out of the woods. They will take over and choke out trees that I might be more interested in keeping - like my beloved dogwoods. I bet we pulled out 50 little maple tree saplings and that was only because I whined. He also suggested a controlled burn. Right.
This was only half of one side of the woods. I know it sounds like it must be acres upon acres. Its not but it is still a lot of work and now work that will wait until the chain saw and his master are back on track. Some gizmo or another has been replaced and now reassembly is needed and maybe a dose of inspiration.
There are woods down the road from us that inspired me but I am not sure everyone has taken hold yet. It is such a beautiful setting with no old scrub trees, dead snags or underbrush. I may not get there but I’ll get close...just you watch.
