Expensive lessons

Wandering through the woods with a friend's pole saw (chainsaw on the end of a 15-foot extension pole) after trimming branches away from the power lines, I thought I'd just quickly cut down a tree to feel more manly than the little branches did. Halfway through the cut I realized why pole saws aren't for tree-cutting - it got stuck.

So, I had to go pick up my chainsaw from the repair shop and start a new cut above it. By now not in the best mood at having to be away from planting the garden this long, I made a bad cut and got chainsaw #2 stuck.

Enter the ax - an amazingly satisfying way of denuding nature, but in an increasingly foul and hurried mood not the best weapon of choice. On the fourth swing, I managed to hit the blade of my chainsaw. I also stopped long enough to notice that the tree was leaning toward the house, not the forest.

So finally I stopped and made the long-overdue phone call to the tree-cutting specialist, who came a few days later to fell 3 trees that had grown too close to the house, and to rescue the 2 chainsaws. Imagine my mortification at having to show this professional man my half-fallen tree, half-hacked trough with rough axe marks, leaning toward the house with two chainsaws stuck in it. Quite the homesteader legend I'm turning out to be.

$210 of chainsaw repair and a big mouthful of humble pie later, I suppose I've learned a lesson in there somewhere. Just not sure which one - use the right tool, take your time, sometimes professionals are there for a good reason, do jobs at the right time and attitude.

If you're on the island, it's Craig from Heartwood Tree Service - 812-4204. He's now taken down the 3 dangerous ones, and today 3 more to allow two sunlight corridors into our unnecessarily shaded house and yard. A bright sunshiny world of difference, and I live to tell the tale.