Chopping Up Pine Trees & Keeping Things Status Quo
It was sunny, a little overcast and just a touch cool (in the 60s) as I headed out this morning but it was predicted that it would be a clear warm day getting into the upper 70s. I was hoping the predictions were right because I had a lot of work to do. I had cut down two Pine trees that were blocking the path that came in from my 20′ double wide gate. They were going to prevent the shipping container deliver guys from getting easily onto the property so they had to go as much as it broke my heart to do so. This week my task was to get the branches off the trees and cut the trunks up into pieces so I could move it all off into the wooded area and out of the way.
I followed my normal routine by checking the garden area first on my way to the hoe area. Everything was status quo there. The tarped supplies was full of Oak leaves but dry still. The 100 gal Rainwater Collection Tank had managed to keep the water level with the little bit of rain that had occurred this past week. Proud of it continuing to do it’s job until I can be living on the property and build out a real rainwater collection system and an irrigation system for the gardens. I filled up a container of wtaer and took it over to the birdbath fountain and topped it off. A little had evaporated with the warmer weather but it too was still running beautifully. All my art sculptures (the kinetic owl and the two blue herons) were even still standing. Yeahhhhhhh!
Off to the home area to grab some tools before I went to work like my cant tool and another smaller log gripper tool that would help me move and drag the log pieces around. I grabbed the tools and threw them in the bed of the Jeep Gladiator and off Gracie and I went to the gate area. I hopped out of the Jeep and began to line up the tools on the tail gate of the truck bed. Gracie quickly realized that she was not being invited to the outdoor party and began to raise a fuss. I left the windows open and turned on the Jeep and left the AC on for her. I just couldn’t manage her and the work that needed to be done at the same time. I knew she would stare out the back window for a while then settle into some soft place and just sleep through it.
Besides the log moving tools I also had the normal tool culprits … the Greenworks 12″ 40V chainsaw, the Greenworks 40 V 8″ pole saw, the axe, batteries for all the tools and my regular tool bag. AND today I had a new tool that arrived this week …. a Greenworks 18″ 80V chainsaw. Last week it was pretty clear that I could saw through the Pine trees with my 12″ chainsaw but it took a lot out of me and a lot of time to do so. I hedged my bet on having more legnth and power would help today’s job go better and faster. Is bigger always better? Nop, but my Daddy always taught me that having the right tool for the job was the right game and would make the job easier to do right. Now mind you, the me he repeated this to over and over never thought she would ever need tools of any kind let alone need to find the right ones. That princess always figured she could get others to do that sort of thing LOL. Actually, I still have that princess part of me but now when we are talking about thousands of dollars to pay someone else to do this job vs. a few hundred for me to get the right tools and do it myself …. well … let’s just say that, now I think I have the right tools.
I put put oil in the chainsaws, loaded the batteries, put on my safety glasses and headed to the downed Pine trees. I had 4 hours to get the work done so I needed to move on it. Of course, I thought I would get it done in much less time than that LOL.
I started on the smaller Pine. I needed to cut off all the branches so it would move down to the ground first. It had gotten stuck on several other tree’s branches on it’s way down and remained jacked up off the ground. I began removing branches from the bottom to the top, being as careful as possible not to have the trunk tilt in any direction that would hit me along the way. I used the 12″ chainsaw as it was powerful enough for this work and I wanted to save my 80V batteries for actually chopping up the trunks. I got about 3/4 of the branches gone and then decided that I should work some on the bigger tree. I did manage to get the chainsaw stuck twice along the way but after my adventured getting it stuck last week I managed to free it up pretty quickly both times.
I proceeded to the bigger pine and began to take it’s branches off about 1/2 way up. Clearly I wasn’t moving as fast as I thought I would so I decided that was enough branch removal and it was time to start sawing up the trunks so I could begin to get them out of the way of the path. First I needed to stack up the branches from both trees so they would be out of the way when I began sawing up the trunks. I ended up with several big piles of branches in several areas.
Now it was time to take the 18″ chainsaw for it’s virgin run. I took the new chainsaw over to the smaller Pine tree. It was, of course, heavier than the other one. I took a deep breath. placed the saw on the tree trunk and pulled the lever. It kicked a touch and then started slicking through the trunk smooth as butter. Within a few minutes the saw cleared to the other side of the trunk. WOW! OMG! Onward! I kept moving up the trunk sawing pieces until I was about 3/4 the way up the tree. I looked at the time again … I only had an hour left.
I moved to the larger Pine tree and started sawing it a piece at a time up the trunk too. I got about 1/2 way up on this one and stopped. Then I began to move the pieces from both trees off into the wooded area. I rolled them with my cant tool and drug them with my smaller grip tool. A piece at a time I kept moving them. I needed to saw a few pieces in half just because they weighed too much for me to even drag. Finally I had the trunk pieces out of the way.
The final part to handle was to get the part of the trunk still in the ground sawed down to the ground so the trucks could drive over them. That took something coz it required me to get down on the ground and move around the trunk to get it as close to the ground as possible. I was pretty tired by now so that bigger chainsaw felt even heavier to hold at the right angles. Finally I got them both done!!! I went back to moving the trunks and branches some more to make sure that I cleared as much of the path for the trucks as possible.
I finished right on time. I stood back and viewed the view from the road in through the fence and it was now completely open … the full 20 feet across. The chipping container trucks will easily be able to come through the gate with no hindrance at all. I walked through the gate and backed up and viewed it from inside the gate back out to the street. Perfect!!! DONE! Now, just in case the delivery needs to happen, before I get back to the property in two weeks, it is ready!!!
Proud of myself I loaded all the tools up in the Jeep and did my final job by the gate. I opened my contractor box and pinned up my building permit in the box. THERE … GOOD TO GO for any contractors to do work & for any inspectors to see!
Tired but happy I headed back to the home area.
I cleaned up my chainsaws and put them in their bags and got all my tools back in their tool bags. These all got stored back in the Jeep. I put the cant tool and the small log gripper back in the container that stays on the property and placed the tarp back over it and staked it down tight again.
I had 30 minutes left before I needed to hit the road back to where I live. I walked around a little and spotted a new native plant/weed I hadn’t seen with big beautiful purple puff flowers … a Bull Thistle. Then it was time for me to do one last thing: I had received a new fairie statue/sculpture that wanted to find her place on the property. A beautiful little flower fairie. I walked around until a small tree called to me. I took her over and sat her on the ground in the leaves by the trunk. She sat there so calmly … it was the perfect place for her. I smiled knowing that there were probably going to be various other fairies that would show up on the property over time.
I posted videos, on the Freedom Acres YouTube Channel, of the rainwater collection tank and birdbath weekly update again along with the Pine tree work (taking the branches off, sawing the trees up and moving them out of the way) and the new little flower fairie. Of course, there is a short exciting end of the day report with Gracie as a part of it and a couple of Gracie videos with her exploring and playing Queen of the Jeep. Feel free check it all out by clicking HERE. Also, feel free to subscribe and you can get notified when new videos go up! 🙂
We are now moving into the first week of April and I am ready for the contractors. The Easter holidays keep things quiet this past week with folks taking time off for the holidays. This coming week things should start moving. The cement guy should give us his date to lay the piers & foundations. That is the new kingpin that everything else depends on now. Then the residential and storage shipping containers can be delivered and the siding can be put on the residential container. Next the electricity and plumbing can be hooked up, and the interior of container fleshed out with appliances and cabinetry, etc. The Game is still to be living on the property by May!! I absolutely will keep praying, chatting with and trusting the Universe. Time will keep rolling and I will be back in two weeks ready to play again and do whatever needs to be done!
As always, I send you Love and Freedom until then!
NOTE – Just in case you might be interested in the little flower fairie here is the info on finding her. This isn’t a paid promotion just I love sharing the art pieces I love:
Kayzecrafts
Handmade Flower Fairy Statue
