Spring Cleaning

Working in the yard yesterday I noticed the signs of spring all around me. The first of these were the geese in the distance as they were landing. The river is about a block from our house so the ducks, loons, blue-heron and geese always seem to circle around our home before landing on the water and I love it. There was also the very first robin outside in the tree, although they�re usually pretty dumb and either leave too late or arrive too early. Some don�t leave at all, but I�m not quite sure what they eat in the winter when they do stay.

We started out the activities on a Sunday by trying to remove a huge Black Ash that had fallen across the tops of two of our sheds. We had people telling us they would bring over this, that and the other thing to remove it for us, but as usual we wound up doing it ourselves. We don�t have a lot of friends, but the ones we do are great and full of good intentions. The problem is that they have lives and we really don�t, so we generally wind up doing these things ourselves.

The last time we lost a Black Ash, it landed on our porch and I wound up cutting some of it and the rest of it I pushed off the porch with my feet while sitting on my ass, trying to hold on for dear life. I have a major problem with heights and was not happy with the situation at all, but it needed to be done.

Back to the other tree and my partner who I�m sure remembers all to well the day her father was whacked in the head by a widow-maker. I don�t know if you know what that is, but basically it�s a stray branch and it can kill a person. Her father was in a coma for a while after being hit by one of these, so naturally she was concerned and continued clearing pathways for me in case the tree started heading in my direction as I began hacking away at it with the chainsaw. It was cracked, but still connected to the main trunk of the tree and I must admit I used her trails on several occasions as I eventually cut the busted section free. I was sure the top branch would roll the damned thing off the roof, but nothing has ever been that easy for us and I stared at that stupid thing sticking straight up in the air. Eventually I laughed it off. No sense in crying about anything since it all works out in the end.

My partner is pointing out all these other spots where she thinks I should start cutting, but I�m wondering how she expects me to cut branches over my head and even though I make an attempt, it seems to be begging for trouble when one is cutting things above their own head with their eyes closed.

I know, I know, I should use safety goggles in those instances, but I guess I sorta relate that to driving a Harley while wearing a helmet. Yes, it would definitely be the smart thing to do, but it just totally kills the look. Besides that, they make my eyes sweat and then the goggles fog up and I can�t see a thing anyway, so the only solution is to find a way to get the branch onto the ground.

I�m examining the situation and explain my idea, but my partner is doubtful. �Oh ye of little faith� is about all I can come up with and she points me in the direction of a dog tie-out cable. We have no dogs at the moment, but she hasn�t given up trying. The cable is perfect and I lasso the trunk of the tree, tying it off before I head to the pickup truck. Once I�m in position, she hooks it to the trailer hitch and ever-so-slowly I start driving up the alley until voila, the tree is now only hanging across the roof of the smaller shed.

Most of it is on the ground enough for me to start cutting away until the last little piece is still stuck on the corner of the small shed. I must admit I ran several times while trimming that puppy, but tripped several times trying to get out of the line of fire. Thank goodness all turned out fine and the tree, I am happy to say, is at last cut up.

Monday was the day I rested my ass muscles since they were a little sore, but by yesterday the tree was cut up and put into the basement for firewood. After taking care of that, all branches were hauled over to the fire pit where they will be broken up and used throughout the summer for barbeques. All-in-all, a very productive first few days and today I�ll start raking up the leftover branch bits.

I expect it to be a fairly productive summer and am not sure how much writing I�ll be doing with all the things I want to get done in the yard. I need to remove and patch one pond while another needs to be dug out and re-leveled and the third needs to be dug out completely and moved to an entirely new spot. The last one will be my big project since the thing is full of boulders and water, three feet deep.

There used to be a time when I would walk out the front door the moment my partner left for work and I would stay there until it was time to start dinner. I had to put those days on hold for a while due to personal pain issues, but am seriously hoping to be able to do it again this year. Hopefully my three fans will be patient with me� *wink*