Yesterday turned into a bit bigger of a day than I expected. I was out of the house and to my client's before 9am to take care of a list of tasks. I had 1 tree I was planning on dropping but she asked to add another thinner pine next to the one I took down first. In the interest of not getting debris everywhere I took care of the easier tasks first.

I first dug up and plugged the irrigation line to remove a pair of rotor sprinklers by the deck. Then we popped her television off the mount and I repositioned the bracket higher and into the studs. It won't go anywhere now but she was not able to help me lift the 70" screen up onto the bracket so found a neighbor to give me a hand. He was cool and I thanked him very much for his help.

Then I got to the swing assembly and got it as far as I could as the springs that hold the seat up are packed away somewhere still. I had not brought my climbing spikes expecting just the fir tree so had to run home to grab them, and have a bite to eat.

That center tree is the first one to come down.

And that pine was the second. I probably could have done it first but with it so thin I wanted to get my head in it on the fir which was thicker and less likely to move as much.

As I put on my spikes I finally realized they were set at the lowest height which had the strap around the middle of my calf. I lengthened them and now they strap around the top and are WAY more comfortable, also the added foam layers helped tons.

I clipped my new saw to a daisy attached to my swami belt and began climbing, limbing up the first 12 or so feet before I was able to climb the limbs to where I wanted to top it.

The saw kicks ass!!!! Like a hot knife through butter. The chain popped off the bar when it got pinched in a branch so I got to pull the cover off and reset it while 40 feet up the tree. Was not bad at all. I then limbed a 3 foot or so space then dropped the top. Then on the way down I limbed below me then climbed down and got my climbing gear off.

Nicely I had room to drop the stem as it was and had guide trees to either side in case.

I did end up tethering it with my rope to ensure the direction and to make sure it didn't rock back on the power saw. The DeWalt would likely have made the cuts but I didn't want to push it too hard and my Stihl has a bigger bar and more aggressive chain. I then bucked most of the trunk and will finish tomorrow or Saturday when I go back up.

I took a short break then suited back up and headed up the pine tree. I topped the thing and got a little ride when it left. The top of the tree was only about 6 inches diameter and VERY flexy.

This tree was by the fence and about 15 feet or so from the house mains so as I down climbed I sectioned the tree into 5 foot sections.

I left the bottom of the trunk for my power saw and dropped it onto the driveway. Sectioned it up and then stacked the logs by the fence and the branches in a pile next to them. Saturday morning I will take the trailer up and haul off the branches. She wants to keep these logs for firewood so when I go for haul off I will buck all the longer logs down and then stack them out of the way to season.

I got home and then the sore and tired began to hit. I said fuck it and went up to the gas station for a beer and came home and relaxed for the afternoon.

Before dinner was ready I got the trailer hooked up for the grain run I have done this morning. A much needed shower and I was in bed early.

Been to town for grain and have it emptied already. Got gas in her car on the way home. I will head out for a ride this morning and do some laps of the lake hopefully before too many people are there so I can get some speed laps. The garden has to get worked on and we have session this evening.