Chainsaws

Last year I bought a chain saw without a background check at Big John’s Closeouts.  In Dave Barry’s book on home improvements he says that there are some people that just should not own a chainsaw and that it should be illegal to sell one to a left-handed person.  I am right-handed, but close to the “should not own a chainsaw” cutoff.

That deficiency got us kicked out of Alaska.  To live there you need to meet at least 2 qualifications.  1.  Be able to build a cabin on a plot of forest land 5 miles from any road without purchasing any wood products.  2. Be able to rebuild your car engine by the side of the road with a Leatherman tool.  Bill Schofield, a true Alaskans, met these qualifications.  For the two years he and Hazel were with us in Congo, I was stress free when we drove or boated around in the Congo Basin Rain Forest.

My Aunt Gail gave me my first chain saw to take to the Congo.  We carried it in our dugout canoe for a while.  Once when we came to where a log blocked our way, Bill cut it to clear the path.  Unfortunately, the canoe rocked when the log broke off and the chain saw went to the bottom of the river.  I was pretty brave back then, so I dove down and rescued it.

I got out of the habit of carrying it on river trips and only carried it in the truck.  With fear and trembling, I once used it once to clear a tree of 2 feet in diameter from the road.  It was not enough saw, however, when one of the forest giants came down across the roads.  In those circumstances you either made a detour through the forest around the fallen tree or waited for an employee of the logging company to clear the road.

My recent chainsaw purchase was for less rigorous tasks.  We had 3 Bradford pear trees in our front yard.  At one time they were the darling of landscapers with their beautiful white flowers in the spring.  People now see the downside of this species and put them on the “undesirable tree” list.  Ours are trying to grow a Bradford pear forest in the yard by sending up a myriad of new trees from the tangle of roots that come above the ground in several places.  In the Feb post called “High Altitude Pruning” I wrote about our rule in regard to tree height in our yard.  One of our Bradford Pear trees was getting to the point where if the wind knocked it over, it would hit the house.

I knew that it had to come down, but I have seen all of those videos on YouTube where people cut down trees that end up falling on their house.  On the big day I invited some local advisers over.  Tom K volunteered to cut down the tree and the whole operation went without a hitch.   I mentioned the bottom four feet of the tree in the “Lawn Ornament 9-19” post.  The frog and shell are temporary until we get a pelican lawn ornament to put on it.