You ain't gonna believe what just happened to me!

So, I go back tonight to cut up the trunks of the 2 ash trees I posted the picture of the branches I picked up last night in the EAB thread. The tree service said it was OK for me to take but I'm feeling a little odd about cutting them up right next to this really busy street so I'm trying to hurry. I finish cutting and put the saw back in the truck when this guy comes walking up to me and asks if I work for a tree service. Thinking it might be the manager of the apartment complex the trees are in front of (though in retrospect, I should have known it wasn't as he was rather odd, as you will see in a minute), I answer "sort of". He then asks me if I will come to his house around the corner and take down a dead spruce in his yard.

I answer, no, I'm not licensed or insured and he says, "good, you'll be cheaper". Now, for a moment, I think I've died and gone to scrounger heaven. I'm going to get paid and get free wood! So, I agree to stop by and take a look, load up all of the rounds, clean up the sawdust and head over.

So, I get there and not only is the tree not dead, it is completely growing together with a pine tree AND has a power line going right through it! I immediately tell him there is no way I will be taking it down and explain to him that if I fell it, it is going to take out the power line and the only path it can take is right out into the street IF I'm lucky and doesn't go right into the power pole/streetlight. I'm thinking this is the end of the story but he starts arguing with me, telling me that the power line has come down several times before in storms so he doesn't care if it falls down and it's not a very busy street so it's not a big deal if I block it. I tell him again, absolutely not and explain to him again all of the hazards involved and he just keeps arguing with me (and it would take another 15 minutes to type it all it and I think you can imagine how it went) and then as I just turn my back on him and get back in he truck, he asks if he can borrow my saw so he can do it himself.

If I would have had a video camera, I have to admit I would've given it a moments thought, thinking I could win $10,000 on America's Funniest Videos or more likely, have evidence for the Darwin Awards, but I don't so I just quickly drive away.

I'm now safely home with the truck unloaded. Whew!!

P.S. I'll post pictures of the wood tomorrow.

SolarAndWood said:

Glad you made it home...I trust you kept an eye on the rearview mirror?

It would seem his first step should be to call the power company and get them to cut everything near and above the lines.

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I told him that but he said they will just take out the offending branches but he wants that tree DOWN!

At one point early on, I thought I might give him the card of a friend of mine who's an arborist but then realized i want to keep him as friend so decided against it.

Wet1 said:

I would have given him the saw, chances are he would not have even made it to the tree w/o dismembering himself. :cheese:

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Especially since I was using the Dolmar, I think you are absolutely right.

As promised:

I did it in 2. I picked up the branches on Tuesday as it was already dark and then cut up the trunk last night. The trunk pieces more than filled the bed so I doubt I could've fit it all in one load.

The tree service said it was ash but I don't have a lot of experience with ash and was a little confused by the completely different bark you see on that one branch sticking up in the picture. I've never seen anything like that on the ash trees I have seen. Maybe there is an ash expert who can chime in. (Dennis?)

Are those branches with the completely different bark a result of the tree dying or is that just what new ones look like?

I was talking about that one branch with the smooth bark with all of the little ones next to it that you can see in the top picture. The tree looked pretty good to me, too. I had read on here about them sending out suckers as the tree is starting to die, that's why I was asking.