Monday, October 20, 2008

What I did over the weekend...

When we moved into our new home a year or so back, one of the things we really liked was a good size willow tree in the back yard. It was big enough to provide some shade, and block the sun from the windows in the late afternoon, and still had many years of good solid growth ahead of it.

About 6 months ago, we had a wind storm come through that broke a major branch off. Well, not so much broke, and ripped. It was still attached, so with some heaving and tugging, rope and duct tape, we were able to get it back together and all seemed fine.

That was when I started noticing the smell. Mostly when it got hot, but towards the end it was all the time. It smelled like rotting vegetables, and on closer inspection of the tree, I could see a couple of spots which didn't appear to be doing so well.

Last Sunday we had a snow storm. It didn't stick around long, due to the higher temperatures, but due the the temperatures, the snow was very wet and heavy. We looked out late Sunday Morning to discover that the tree had split 3 ways and had completely come down.

On Saturday I borrowed a chain saw, and got to play lumberjack for the day. I'm pleased to report that the tree is gone, we have enough firewood for 2 or 3 and the back yard is looking much larger than before. On the negative side of things, I am in serious pain. My hamstrings are tight, my forearms hurt and my back aches.

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