Tuesday, March 29, 2022

The Lumberjack #SOL22


In our neighborhood we don't gather much with neighbors. We give the neighborly wave as we come and go down the dead-end street, but it takes a summer storm, an ambulance, or an outdoor project to round us up.

Or cutting a tree down. 

This month one neighbor had a tree taken down due to electric lines. They had a crew from a big local company that was too big for the job as many of them sat in our yard and watched. After the job was finished, we all gathered around and chatted about who was getting the firewood and complained about what a terrible job they did cleaning up the mess and the damage caused to the neighbor's house.

The following week another neighbor had a tree cut down from a different trimmer. As the second tree was coming down, my husband says, "I think we should take the persimmon trees down. Do you think I should ask him if he will do it?"

"Whatever you think."

The second day comes, and my husband says, "Do you think we should take those persimmon trees down?"

"Whatever you want to do."

The next thing I know he is out there talking to the man, and the trees are coming down.

He is a one-man show today. He has been trimming trees all his life, and he knows what he is doing. Dressed in his Carhartt bibs and lumberjack red plaid shirt and cigarette dangling from his mouth, he quickly hops in the bucket truck, zips up and begins to trim the top limbs lickety-split. 

There is a pine tree on one side and a peach tree on the other; there is no room for error. He wraps a rope around the upper section of the tree and makes a cut. That piece of wood hit the ground like a dart hitting a bullseye. Precision at its finest.

Our neighbors came out and stood with us as we watched him cut that tree and drop those pieces like he was laying a baby in its crib. Not once missing his mark.

Less than an hour later all three trees were down, and one of the neighbors said, "I know tree trimming has some science behind it, but this...now this is a work of art."

 

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3 comments:

  1. We like to call them cowboys in my house. They are definitely cut from the same cloth. It is indeed a skill and an art.

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  2. Funny how tree trimming brings your neighborhood together. My parents have a tree trimmer who climbs their trees to trim them (They live on a lake and their property has a steep slant to the water.) He always puts on an amazing show!

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  3. I feel like I'm there with you and your neighbors - it's funny how events like this cause all the neighbors to come out. In my old neighborhood, we all went outside if there was a rainbow. :)

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