This week's goal: Tree takedown

So this week's goal/project is to take down four trees in the area we want to build the (real!) chicken coop.  Not necessarily because we want to build where the trees are, but because these trees have been infested by insects, which attracts the attentions of the pileated woodpeckers, and then various fungi grow in the holes.  All four are up to the fungus stage, with dead limbs which could fall in a decent storm.

So, yesterday morning, the first one came down:

Me with the mini-Tracker hubby gave me

What ...?  Y'all don't believe that one?  How about this one:

Hubby and his full-sized Tracker knife

Ok, he can certainly get stubborn enough, but neither of us is the able-bodied, strong, and stupid private we each used to be.  No more pulling your leg, this is actually how it went down:

Notched the direction we wanted it to fall, then cut from the back side ...

Chainsaw and gravity did most of the work felling the tree

Hubby said this was the first tree he's actually cut down, and was pleased at how well it worked out.  He had wanted a pic of it falling, but once the trunk made the first cracking noise, gravity brought it down too fast for me to raise the digicam.  It is probably related to how damaged the tree was as well.  Oh, the pile behind hubby is made up of deadfall from the damaged trees on that side of the property.  There are three more piles of deadfall on the other cardinal points - that is only the north heap.

One down, three more to go ... and of course there is the clean-up after they are on the ground.  Felling the tree seems easy next to the clean-up and cutting it into manageable pieces to move.