Some say I'm ambitious

After our tree was hit by lightning we decided it was quite a fire hazard. The tree drops so many pine needles, the branches were all the way down to the ground and if the needles caught on fire, the entire tree would go up in flames. Yesterday our 3 yard waste bins were empty and we knew we needed to do it. Unfortunately, Jeff had a deadline due and wouldn't be home in time to take care of it before it got dark. So I decided to take it upon myself to "skirt" the tree.


Skirting is taking about 6 feet off the bottom of the tree, and that's exactly what I did. I got out the clippers and went at it. I was doing great and making good time. In the middle of my hard labor, a woman walked by and said, "My, you are very ambitious!" I thought to myself, I guess I am, because most women wouldn't cut trees down, and in fact, I didn't know I had it in me to cut the tree. When I was almost finished, my nice neighbor brought over his chain saw to cut the thick branches that I couldn't cut with the clippers. How sweet is he? Well, he also did it because he had been secretly wanting the tree cut for quite some time. My neighbor said I need to hang out with his wife because she doesn't do any yard work and he wants my hard work and green thumb to rub off on her.

Our tree

Our 3 yard waste bins full of leaves & branches...I ran out of room and still have a huge pile of more branches & pine needles...but that's next week's project.
My tree, skirted. Notice the piles of more branches.
I noticed as I was raking some of the pine needles, that some were charred, most likely due to the lightning. There was also bark that had been blown away from the tree.