TIMBER!

We like to take down trees. What makes it the most fun is, seeing how difficult we can make it. This particular tree was close to the corner of grandma and grandpa's house, so we have to be careful. Delicate - know what I mean? So how it went down was this. We backed a Ram truck up to "near" the tree and stretched out an extension ladder, up into the dead branches, as far as we could. Then we leaned the fully extended ladder against the dead branches (not the trunk of the tree, mind you) and attempted to wrap a (very heavy) chain around the upper trunk. But before that could actually be completed, we had to use the BRAND NEW pole saw and trim some branches. Since it was BRAND NEW, grandpa didn't really want Greg using it. And Greg kept getting it stuck. So stubborn grandpa too the pole saw and started cutting down branches, faster than we could remove them. What finally made him stop was when one branch dropped right on his head. The removal of all these branches still did not get us to safely rest the ladder on the trunk. I attempted to climb the ladder, but Greg stopped me. Then Grandma started to try, but she said there was no way we were close enough to get there and came down. So, stubborn Grandpa to the rescue. He climbed that dang ladder and hung like a monkey in the tree, wrapping the excessively heavy chain around the tree. And DARN IT, if he was going to make that thing reach. Or die trying. But he did it! So down he came, more thankful than he would ever let on. Truck was moved out of the way and the chain was hooked to a long cable. The long cable was hooked to the John Deere tractor, which was hooked to the above-mentioned Ram truck. On the opposite side of the tree, the Bobcat was ready to PUSH the tree over. Yep. That's us. And DARN if it didn't work. Flawlessly. Crazy stuff right there - CRAZY!

FB post:
Almost 70 yrs old and still climbing trees. The thing is...you can't see that the ladder is NOT resting on the trunk of the tree, it's kind of just laying on dead branches. And....the bottom of the ladder (which is at full extension) is 6' off the ground in the bed of a truck. This guy 🤐. I suppose it keeps him young....sort of. I really love my dad! ❤️ and am so thankful that God is keeping him safe.