One tree down...

After all that hemming and hawing over the plum tree and where it should/could go, Bill did come to realize how much the beech tree had grown and was hanging over the side of the house. Yesterday he came home from work just raring to go. He got the chainsaw out and started cutting the branches off. Will and I dragged branches into the woods. Then Will stabilized the ladder for Bill while he cut the taller branches. I pulled at the ends of those branches to help them fall away from the trunk. Once the bottom section was gone, it was really obvious that the trunk was leaning toward the house. Bill and Will put a rope around the trunk and tied it to the truck bumper. Then Will pulled the rope tight as Bill chopped a "v" into the trunk. The timing and placement was great - the tree went down on the driveway just barely grazing the house on one side and the basketball goal on the other. Easy clean-up, and the woodpile was right there for stacking the larger pieces. Wow, what a difference in the amount of light - beech trees have a really dense canopy. Our only regret? NO PICTURES!!! Arrrgh!