Oh Happy Day! Finally Finished Pruning the Big Tree

I started pruning the big tree in my back yard on October 31, 2015. Here is a link to that post.   

I also posted about how I almost fell out of the tree here. 

I posted about hiring someone to finish pruning the tree here.

Here is a post about splitting the wood with a maul and a wedge.

I also had someone come using a chain saw trying to cut down the larger branches and the saw they brought was so small, it couldn't get through the larger branches. 

This week, my friend Blaine came over and had a larger chain saw and he was able to cut down the larger branches into smaller segments so I could use the wedge and split them down into usable pieces. 

Saturday, I used the wedge and split about half down into usable pieces. It was so rough going with all the weird branches splitting off that it took forever. 

I finally got outside today and used my reciprocating saw to start cutting into the larger logs and then put the wedge down inside them and then use the maul to get the wood logs split. 

It was so hot today and so crazy hard to split the green logs that my back and neck were knots by the time I finished getting them broken down. 

I was out there for hours and it was dark by the time I gave up. I actually gave up on a few of the bigger logs. I couldn't get some of them broken down as the wedge wouldn't split in the "Y" of the logs. I kept having to take breaks and rest as the logs were so full of knots. 

I got the pieces down to usable sizes but some are still quite big. I am so glad that I am finished. 

It is nice being able to look out in the yard and not see huge logs. It is also nice to be able to look at the wood pile that is amazing to me. 

I had no idea that I could get so much wood from one tree. How amazing is it that I got all that wood from one tree. Of course it is still green but I am not planning on using it to heat the house for a few more years. 

Once Princess Five is gone, I will probably just use the few upstairs main rooms where the larger wood stove is located and then I can use the wood stove to heat the house. Because we have rooms being used up and down stairs, the wood stove isn't functional as I only have one thermostat for the furnace so I need to wait until no one uses the downstairs to use the stove.

I can't believe that it took me four and a half months to finish pruning the tree from start to finish. Who would have guessed it would have taken so long to finish. 

Now that the phone company is finished with their holes and new lines and the tree is finished being pruned and the wood stacked, my next priority is to kill the weeds sprouting back in the play area and to put mulch down again. It has been at least five years since we built the play area but thinking back, it was probably more like seven. 

The mulch I put in the area has now muched down and the digging by the phone company took any last of it and turned it into the dirt. So, I need to go to the fair grounds and pick up more to make the back play area nice again. 

I also never did get to washing the outside windows that I had on my to do list from last fall as I have been working all winter on the pruning project and cutting things down and now that that is finished, I am hoping it wont take forever to get the next outdoor project finished for the yard as soon it will be time to plant a garden and start mowing and edging. 

I would also like to do a few more squares of my sidewalk that need it. Here is a post where I did one section that was quite bad a few years back. 
 
I keep thinking if I keep up on the outside of the house, I may get a few years off but it seems when you have sprinklers, grass, fruit trees etc, you never get a year off. 

My nectarine tree is looking quite dead so I am thinking of taking it out this year and putting in a new one. We will miss that tree but since we haven't gotten any fruit for a few years, it is probably a hopeless cause trying to revive it. 

Yards are a LOT of work.