TIMBER

We had a tree in our backyard that died before we moved in.  We were just going to leave it there for now, but then we decided to buy a trampoline. We needed the space where the tree was to be able to fit the trampoline where we wanted it.  We went out and looked and decided we could take it down ourselves.  It was kind of tall, but not too big.  It was fairly close to our house and not too far from the fence.  We wanted to make sure it wouldn't fall on the house, the fence or the neighbor's house.  We thought if we could tie a rope up pretty high we could control where it would fall. 

Neil climbed up and put a loop around the tree.  We tied the rope around another tree to hold the top tight and pull it the way we wanted it to go.  I am happy to say that our plan worked pretty well. We got the tree down and didn't damage anything.  It did brush the decorative light pole in the backyard, but we were going to take it out anyway.

Neil cut part way through the tree about 5 feet below the rope.  When he had it partly cut through Neil, Dallin and I helped pull on the rope to rock the top of the tree loose.  As it came down we pulled on the rope to guide it where we wanted it to fall.

After we got the top down Neil did the same thing to the trunk to get it down.  I was going to go back out and help but he did it on his own.  About the time he was getting the trunk down our neighbor, Brother O'Brien, let Neil borrow a chainsaw to cut all the tree up.  We all helped carry the wood out of the yard.  It is amazing how many sticks a tree has.

I was grateful that we were able to do it ourselves and safely.