Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Taking 'Labor Day' a little too seriously

When Labor Day weekend started, our back yard looked about like this:


Only the grass was more dead and the kids were a year older. This photo was taken last August, but that's neither here nor there. Look at the trees. The trees, I tell you!


And this tree too. Look at this tree. Look at this beast of a tree.

Come the end of Saturday, the tree looked a little more like this:


It looks so wussy without its branches. You aren't so tough anymore, tree!


And your buddies on the other side of the yard aren't as big as they thought they were either! Brent wanted to make sure they knew good and clear who was boss by climbing them with a rope and swinging from them as they stood there, stripped of their pride and dignity.

It was cruel.
But the trees had to go. There are plans for this backyard of ours. Big plans. Plans that might be bigger than our stomachs. Plans that include a retaining wall to fill in the pit in the back yard that the kids fall in. Plans that include a sprinkler system that actually works, as opposed to the current one... that doesn't. Plans that include a level place for our playset to sit, so that it doesn't fall over and kill young children. Plans that DON'T include ginormous pine trees.

I'm sorry, pine trees. It's just the way it had to be.
So the pine trees went, old school, lumberjack style.
It was deluxe.


We had a VERY kind neighbor come over as back up and there are the boys, watching, waiting...


Jaime knew what he was doing. Thank goodness for Jaime.


TIMBER!


One down, two to go.


By the time we got to the the third tree, the kids decided to get involved. This photo makes me smile. I love how hard the boys are pulling in the back.


And once they were down, they needed to be cut into pieces and hauled off.


Everyone pitched in, even Chas. Everyone except for me, that is. I was too lazy to help, so I carried around a camera to make documentation look imperative.

If, like me, you feel kinda, sorta, really bad about ripping out perfectly good, mature trees just because we're moving in a different direction, try to take some comfort knowing that they made a noble sacrifice. They were chopped up and split into firewood that, when dry, will provide my young children with much needed warmth in the cold, dreary winter.
Waste not, want not... right?


5 comments:

Lynda/Mom said...

OK, love it! Thanks for showing the process and the result. Do you have a start time for construction of the wall? I'm going to be very interested in seeing what materializes.

Grammyzanne said...

That's one way to get firewood. I too enjoyed the little helpers.

Leslie said...

You should have asked Cam to chop down the tree. You yard looks naked at this point.

Cameron said...

Though I wasn't excited about it, I was slighty offended that no invitation was extended-emphasis on the word slightly.

Laura Stringham said...

Ya, I really can't figure out why we didn't call you guys. It's really out of character for us.