I’ve been planning on getting an iMac for some time. Even before the latest models, which have a cooler sleeker design as well as a nice glass finish to the screen, I’d thought that an iMac would be a nice alternative to the PC sitting under my desk. Instead of a big clunky case with tangled cables crowding the floor around my feet, I’ll have my entire computer sitting up on my desk. In addition, I’ll be working with OS X instead of Windows. (That is another story entirely. I’d write about all the reasons Windows Vista is horrible and all the reasons why OS X is a far superior operating system, but it’s been written about many thousands of times already on the Internet and you just need to search a little on Google to find a very comprehensive number of resources on the subject.)
My plan originally, was to wait until we got a tax refund early next year and spring for the latest model iMac at that time. This last month however, another option was made available. Gayla’s parents have some very tall trees in their back yard. These trees rain branches and leaves all over their house and yard. In addition, the back yard is about to be overrun with roots, which has caused the cement to buckle in a few places and made for a very rough lawn. They decided the trees needed to go. They learned, after receiving a few bids for the work, that the process of removing the trees was not going to be cheap.
Back before I was married, I worked for the Forest Service for a couple summers thinning trees. Having a little experience with chain saws, and thinking that I’d like to own a chain saw anyway (you never know when one of those might come in handy), I said I’d take care of his trees for him if he’d go ahead and purchase the saw for me. After they considered that option for a while, they decided it was a pretty good deal. I had mentioned to Gayla’s dad, just the day before, that I was planning on getting an iMac for our next computer. He called back and said that have me cut down the trees would save enough money on the deal, that he’d like to purchase me an iMac as well as the saw. I got a little more excited to do the job at this point!
We borrowed a rappelling harness and I got some rope to hold me up in the trees. Then I used another rope to pull the chainsaw up. After cutting down the top branches, I worked my way back down the trees and cut sections off until the whole tree was cut down. It would have been a lot easier if there wasn’t houses and fences to worry about. In that case, I could have just cut all the trees down and been done with it.
I would have been a little more nervous of being that high up in the trees if I wasn’t buckled to them so I couldn’t fall off!
Getting closer on this one.
The yard is getting a little more cluttered.
Not a lot of room between the trees and the house. This is part of the reason the trees needed to go.
A few of the stumps.
Looks like I’ll be getting that iMac a little sooner!
November 11th, 2007
We finally got all our trees this week. We ordered 9 big trees and 16 shrubs or smaller trees. There were three families that ordered a lot of trees at the same time and then a few other neighbors that ordered just a couple odds and ends. They came on Monday about 4:30. Well, they almost came at 4:30. I got a call about that time saying that the truck driver needed help finding our sub division. So off I went to find him. It turns out he was pointed the wrong direction on a road in Highland. We had to go down through American Fork and then back up to our neighborhood because turning around wasn’t really an option. (It was a Long truck.) Finally, after battling traffic that doesn’t give long trucks enough room to turn corners, we made it back. We had rented a bobcat to help unload the trees because they were pretty big. The reason we ordered them was because we could get trees with a 2-3 inch diameter that are 20 feet tall for the price of much smaller trees here. After 6 hours of unloading we had all our trees in the correct spot to start planting. (Other families ordered a lot more trees than we did.)
The 1st Trees
Tuesday I planted until I had to go to Pack Meeting. After I planted a Sycamore, I got Kyle Wright to come help me dig because at this point I was pretty overwhelmed with the task. We got another Sycamore planted and then started on the holes for a few pine trees. We’d have got further but Kyle found a sprinkler pipe. It’s my fault though, I thought it was 2 feet North of there. It’s amazing how those things just move around under the ground. Kyle’s dad George picked me up a connector for the pipe while I was at Pack Meeting and they fixed it up. Thanks Guys!!
Here are a couple of the Sycamore Trees we planted in the front. There is a 3rd on the North side of the driveway. These had a tag that said “London Plain Tree”.
The 2nd Trees
Wednesday, I got Ben to come help dig. He dug a hole for a dogwood while I planted the pine trees that we had dug holes for the day before. It’s a good thing I had Ben over or I wouldn’t have got the dogwood planted until later. Gayla had to go to Young Women so we stopped for the day.
The tree on the right is a Serbian Pine. There is another one of those closer to the fence too. The bluer tree on the left is a “Bacheri” which I think is the same thing as a Blue Spruce and the bush is a Mugo Pine. We’ll be using these for our outdoor Christmas trees from now on. You’ll notice the rocks here. This is our “National Forest” look.
Here is the Dogwood that Ben helped plant.
The 3rd Trees
Thursday Kyle came over again and we planted two bigger pines in the back yard. We also planted another Sycamore in the front. This one Gayla got from the local tree place since we only ordered two. It’s a lot shorter than the other ones and was a lot easier to plant too.
Here are the three Austrian Pines in our back yard. I think that they’ll end up quite tall. We’ll trim the lower branches when they are big so we can still walk around under them.
Trees and Shrubs
Friday, I planted the last pine tree. Man was that a relief to get all the big trees planted. We’ve got as many rocks on our yard as there are up on the Mountain in any given cubic yard of dirt. There is a berm on the South side of our front yard and I commented to Gayla that we could just leave it like it is with the pine trees. We could tell people we’re going for the National Forest look.
After I got that last tree planted, I started on the shrubs. I was able to plant 4 of those pretty quick before it started turning rainy and we had to go in.
The shrubs on the front of our house are boxwoods. You can also see the skyrocket juniper that I planted there one the side. (The other side of the porch has the same stuff.) The junipers were planted a while back though.
Shrubs .. and more trees
Well, Saturday morning I had to get all the rest of those shrubs planted before the weather turned bad. I planted 5 more shrubs in the front and then 6 more small trees in the back. There was also one more Mugo pine in the front to be planted. By 10:00 I was all done.
These are Spartan Junipers. They supposedly only get about 8 feet tall and should do well against the back wall of our garage.
Wait. There’s more trees. Gayla’s parents have these great big trees in the back yard that are making their lawn all rough. In addition, they rain all kinds of branches and leaves down into the yard and their neighbor’s yards. Well, they got a bid from someone to remove them and the lowest price was $5000. I said if he bought me a chainsaw, I’d do it instead so now my next project is to clear trees out of Gayla’s parent’s back yard. Yesterday evening I went over and bought a new Husqvarna chainsaw and a few accessories. We even started cutting a few of the little ones to try it out.
This morning, I got a call from Grandpa K. It seems the snow knocked down half of one of their trees out front. Good think I got the chainsaw last night 
Those things always come in handy!
More
While I got on the topic of labeling all our trees so that I could come back and read this in the future when I forget what they are, I thought I ought to go ahead and include this picture too. These were planted a while back about the time we got the Skyrocket Junipers in the front.
Emerald Green Arborvitaes. They should get about 12-15 feet tall and about a 4 foot diameter. On the left is our Lemon Elberta Peach tree.
Ok, Now I’m really done. (I’m not done with the more trees part though.)
October 21st, 2007