mediatechnology wrote: ↑Wed Aug 15, 2018 7:30 am
The trunk is kind of hollow from ants eating the insides of tree, so I may start a fire inside the base of the trunk to finish it off, when I get down to it...
Throw a bag of sugar on it and wait. The sugar will feed everything and it will breakdown faster.
I am inclined to spray some more bug spray to kill the carpenter ants that are running amok on what's left of the tree... Yesterday I sprayed down a bunch of carpenter ants climbing on my closest pecan tree that was 50' feet away before, but close to lots of fallen branches.
Managing a load line by yourself is difficult.
I've seen one of my tree guys attach a line to the tree that he's felling and then loop it around another tree so his assistant can control it from a different position.
I could have used an extra hand, or four, several times but I tried hard to not do anything really stupid (so far so good).
Closest thing to injury is the bee sting. The arm is still sore and there is a discernible lump where the sting occured.
The good news is even though my attached line had no effect (not really attached very well at the top), but the branch didn't come close to the power lines when it finally came down. I had one other questionable branch wedged against one of those big pine trees that I was going to leave until today, but around 2PM when I was sitting in my kitchen rehydrating, I got a knock on my door from some guy driving by who asked if he could have some fire wood.
I said yes of course and he told me he would come back later when it was cooler. Apparently I am the only dumbass who works during the heat of the day in MS.
Since I didn't know his saw skills I decided to drop the last remaining dicey limb myself. I left him a pile of big wood that he could cut down to wood stove size.
I was pleasantly surprised to be sitting inside after beer o'clock, chilling and rehydrating, and hearing a chain saw at work in my yard.
He had a newer stihl saw than mine and looked like he knew what he was doing. He wore a kidney belt to help with lifting. He filled up the back of his pickup truck twice (two trips). He even took some of the big wood I had already carried over to my burn pile to burn. I told him he could have it, but would have to haul it back to his truck himself.
I'm about to call a guy today with a bucket truck to take a cedar out over the driveway and utility drop.
A bucket truck isn't required but its safer and faster then sectioning it down by being on it.
I have been dragging my feet, because I am cheap, but I have a stand of tall old pine trees (10 or so) that need to be topped, because they tower above power lines and would hit my house, or my neighbor's house across the street, if they are dropped in one piece. I have been hopeful that the power company might have some interest to protect their lines, but so far no interest. Maybe after one drops they will get interested in the rest.
After 4 full days of hard (for me) physical labor, I am ready to take a break. All that is left of the pecan tree is about 20' of trunk almost 2' diameter at the small end. I may just stare at it for a couple days. I need to get back to normal life again.
Good news is my salt water worked and no more cramping after that first cramping event late saturday night. Oddly I haven't lost any weight according to my scale morning weight (actually gained a pound or two), but my hydration level may be higher from all the extra salt. My pants are fitting looser, so I know I didn't suddenly get fatter.
JR