A Week Riding a Different Type of Chain and Dodging a Storm

Staying out ahead of the storm we had fun getting some photos with our bikes.

It was exactly one week ago when Lisa came to tell me about the neighbor's tree falling onto the power line between our properties.  When I went to take a look my little portable bike workshop looked to be in harm's way.  There was a large dead tree on the other side which had come down on top of the neighbor's tree and which was the real threat to damaging the dome's fabric cover.  

This was what I "saw" (no pun intended) when I looked out at my little dome bike workshop.

After removing most of the downed limbs with a sawzall and a pole pruner

I decided to keep my distance from the power line and focused on removing anything which seemed to pose a threat to the workshop.  Needing to remove several tree limbs before I felt comfortable dropping the larger dead tree without it snagging on other trees.  Importance of cleanly dropping a dead tree that was tangled with two other green trees cannot be overstated enough.  After a full day and a half of using the Corona Dual Action Tree Pruner with 13" Razer Saw and cleaning up the huge mess in our yard it was time to get a chainsaw.  After much research and learning about the effects of ethanol on small high performance engines I decided on the Echo 16" Chainsaw and if it gave me any hassles while cutting the limbs that were cut down then I would return it.  There were so many mixed reviews regarding chainsaws it seemed that fuel mixture and storage was more of an issue than anythings else.  FYI a recommended mix is a good quality two cycle oil and 91 octane fuel with no more than 10 percent ethanol.  Evidently there are gas stations selling E85 gas which contains 85% ethanol and should be avoided.  One expert suggested not even purchasing gas for a chainsaw there as there might be a bit of that in the station's hose even if they sell e10 fuel as well.

Our neighbor's tree resting on power line between our properties, after a week nobody has come to take care of it. 

Last Saturday we had a scheduled pot luck dinner gathering for the folks who help with the organic food co-op at our store.  I missed out on our get together due to the tree resting on the powerline and stayed home as I was told the situation had been reported and someone was going to come take care of it.  After our landlord had come by he reported it and so did our neighbor.  So, after a couple days it was time for me to get to work on protecting my workshop.  Tree removal, cutting firewood and limbing trees is nothing new to me.  Coming from the Northwest where I used to have a landscaping business I sold firewood and cut my own firewood for several years.  Those skills also came in very handy in Colorado where a wealthy rancher observed my consideration for the natural surroundings while felling trees on his property and wanted to hire me to make snow mobile and atv trails.  Anyhow, I had sold my tools for that type of work a few years ago after leaving Colorado and it had been years since I used a pole saw pruner.  Though I am in very good shape I wondered how much I would be able to do in time allotted to remove the heavy limbs and dead tree before a forecasted storm rolled in. 

Another thing about this type of work is I was paid a good sum for it.  As it requires quality tools, experience and skill so that damage to property is kept at a minimum.  To say nothing of personal injury to workers or others.  After getting over my initial anger and frustration of having to contend with the situation we decided I should assess tthings and get the required tools.  I needed a good quality pole pruning saw first.  And I don't care who you are those things are tough to use and cheap ones are dangerous.  Seventy bucks later I have a 14 foot Corona which has a 13" saw blade capable of cutting through six to eight inch branches which is what I really needed to get some of the weight off of the powerline without putting myself at risk in any way, shape or form.  The trick of course was to cut the heavy limbs so that when they dropped it wouldn't damage my little bike workshop. 

Sure glad we were able to locate a good chainsaw for getting the dead tree off of the roof of our store.  Tree was threatening to fall on my bike workshop and dropping it on to roof of store was the safest thing. 

Echo 16" Chainsaw is a good quality chainsaw for what we needed to do. View from roof with bucked round of same tree in background. 

Considering I worked hard at this clean up project for three days solid it was of no surprise when I felt as though I had strained a muscle in my back.  Actually I really thought I would have a lot more sore stiff muscles particularly from the pole saw pruner.   If I walked away with anything from this project it's that I'm in much better physical condition than anticipated and there's certainly nothing wrong with that.  Went for a gentle six to seven mile ride as I allow my back to recover and confident I will be returning to work and bike commuting this week.

As soon as I completed removing and bucking the last of the tree from the roof, severe weather storm hit and we felt very satisfied with keeping our little workshop from taking a hit. 

As I mentioned before, it has been a bit over a week now and our neighbor's tree is still laying on the power line.  Weather is clear and sunny with no wind, perfect work conditions for removing the tree from the power line.  Perhaps the whole "don't mess with Texas" slogan isn't the "power line" they intended it to be, bu rather an excuse for them not to go to work.  If that sounds a bit cranky it's because I am.  After pulling a muscle in my back and needing a few days to recuperate, including a couple of sleepless nights with back pain I thankfully have taken care of my own and that's good enough. After it's all said and done I'm actually grateful we had an excuse to get a new chainsaw, the smell and sounds brought back some fond memories of living in Washington.