Sunday, August 1, 2010

Tim-berrrrr!


Give me the right tools and I can do anything.  And don't tell me I can't.

All summer, I've been after Romie to cut down the ugly maple tree that stands right in our way of walking from the pool area to the gardens at the back of the property. That isn't the reason I wanted him to take it down, but it really was in the way.  The biggest reason is because every single year it leafs out, looks good for a few weeks, then the leaves starts to turn yellow, get crispy brown on the edges, and starts dropping leaves until it's bare.  All by the end of July.



I have no idea what color the leaves on this particular tree are in fall, because it's lost them all by then.  Once in a great while, it will start to leaf out again, but most of the time, it doesn't.  I know it's diseased and I remember talking about this in my Master Gardener classes this spring, but I can't remember what it is right now.  All I know is I wanted the tree gone. It just wasn't worthy of the space it was occupying.

The tree had a 5-inch diameter trunk and was 22 feet tall, so I asked Romie to please take it down.  But he has a thing about pruning (he hates to do it, because he thinks it's hurting the growth) and he sure wasn't jumping to get the chain saw to cut one of his beloved trees down.  I, on the other hand, love to prune and while I love our trees as much as he does, I wasn't going to miss this maple one little bit.

For some reason, I just can't convince Romie that pruning is good for trees and shrubs.  On the rare occasions that he does prune anything, he doesn't take enough off to do any good.  It's like he thinks they're going to stop growing if you cut anything off of them.

So, this afternoon, I warned him that I was going to cut that maple tree down myself.  I know he didn't believe me, but he should know better after 35 years of being married to me. (Happy Anniversary to us, today!)



I grabbed my Corona Tools QuickSaw and proceeded to saw away at the trunk of the tree and in less than five minutes, the tree was down. An inch a minute! They don't call it a  QuickSaw for nothing! I call it awesome.

 


I walked back into the house and said, "That didn't take long."  He looked at me and said, "You did not just cut down that tree."

"Oh yes, I did."

It took him an hour before he could get up the courage to walk out and see that the tree wasn't there anymore.  In the meantime, I even cleaned up the mess. He's not real happy with me right now, but he'll get over it. :-)


12 comments:

Lisa at Greenbow said...

Sometimes a girl gotta do what a girl gotta do. Good job.

Lona said...

A woman's work is never done. LOL! Or in this case is done. I have the opposite problem since my son prunes too much.

Peg Wiggins said...

Wow, that's impressive!
And I love it that you used tools made in the U.S.A.
Nice ruler . . . .

Pam/Digging said...

Good for you, Kylee. You took matters into your own hands. Sounds like a good little saw too.

Pam Stotts said...

Good job! Nice little saw too. I had to re-check the name after looking at the picture of you holding it, was that QuickSaw or QuickDraw - Tree Assasin, lol. I think our husbands went to the same pruning school. I need that little saw.

Wasco said...

You woulda had more fun with the chainsaw, though. :)

Anonymous said...

I actually take your husband's side on this. I'm sure a five inch trunk doesn't take up that much space... lol.

Cassie said...

I'm confused, that is "pruning"? The tree will grow back?

PS I love the picture of you standing triumphantly over the tree with your QuickSaw.

Kylee Baumle said...

Lisa ~ Exactly!

Lona ~ I have to stop myself sometimes. I LOVE to prune!

Peg ~ I love this saw!

Pam ~ It really is an amazing saw, Pam. I wasn't sure if it would handle this tree, but I had no problem at all! The teeth on the saw are situated so that the sawdust doesn't clog them up.

Pam S. ~ Ha! Yes, you need this...trust me!

Wasco ~ Actually, I got great satisfaction from using my own brute force behind this saw to take the tree down!

Anonymous ~ That wasn't the reason I wanted the tree gone. It was the disease. The tree was butt ugly nearly the entire summer. One should not have to rake maple leaves in July! No, the 5-inch trunk didn't take up much room at all, but those branches stuck out pretty far!

Cassie ~ No, my cutting the tree down isn't pruning. I mentioned that my husband hates pruning just show that if he hates pruning, he sure isn't going to want to cut the entire tree down!

As far as the tree growing back, there is a chance that it could, but we won't let it. In fact, I'm going to work at getting the stump out today if I can find the axe.

I like that photo, too! :-)

Peg Wiggins said...

Kylee, I forwarded this post to a Facebook friend who actually lives in Johnson City, TN (city where your ruler/yardstick was manufactured)
And she was thrilled to see your ruler! But photo is cropped in such a way that she can't read the name of the company that makes that product you are using. (Metal ruler/yardstick)

Can you either tell us the name of the company or email me the uncropped ruler photo? Sorry for the trouble; but products made in U.S.A. are important to us! And am proud that you are using them!!

Kylee Baumle said...

Peg ~ No trouble at all, Peg! It's actually a metal yardstick and the company is Mayes Brothers Tool Mfg. Company. We've had this for AGES, and I don't even know where we got it.

Stratoz said...

I have a peony at work that act the same way, or do they all emerge healthy, flower, then look awfully diseased. year after year... I just plant something that grows tall and blocks it, but I did research it once and now I forget what the disease was, but it could spread

blogger templates | Make Money Online