What I did this weekend.

[x88x]

So I had this big Holly tree next to my driveway. Hung over the driveway, dropped snow all over my truck, would be in the way of the garage I'm building in the spring, and was generally just in a really inconvenient location.

So, let's see what we can do about that. :D

Before I started.
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/tree_00.jpg

Now, even with careful placement I was worried about catching my phone/cable/FiOS lines on the way down, so first I did a bit of climbing around, cutting off limbs on that side of the tree.
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/tree_01.jpg

Fortunately, my math was correct, and it landed exactly where I planned it to. :D And so it continued.
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/tree_02.jpg
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/tree_03.jpg
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/tree_04.jpg

And done for now. :D For the first time since I bought the place, I can finally park all my vehicles on the same side of my house. :D
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/tree_05.jpg

Now I just spend the rest of the week cutting up the limbs and getting them ready to take to the dump on Saturday. Unfortunately, they close at 3:30 and I get off work at 6:30, so that pile is gonna be there all week. :( So I'll be spending all day next Saturday taking load after load over there.

[Kayin]

All that holly wood, going to the dump.

*silent tears*

[AmEv]

ICWYDT...
:p

[x88x]

All that holly wood, going to the dump.

*silent tears*

Well, I'm keeping the larger limb sections and the trunk section as firewood/if I think of something to do with them.. I thought, rather belatedly, that maybe I should leave a big chunk of the trunk in one piece, but tbh idk what I would have done with it anyway. I have several pieces left from the base of the trunk that are ~15-20" in diameter and 10-20" long. It's just the brush that's going to the dump; or rather, the yard waste collection center there; eventually it'll get turned into mulch and sold.

I do feel a little bad about cutting it down.. I love trees, and this was a pretty old one (well, probably ~20-40 years...holly's grow fast). And being a holly, it was a great climbing tree. :D If it had been almost anywhere else on my property I would have left it alone or just trimmed it...but sorry, right there any tree would have had to go. ..well, almost any...the house my parents just bought has this huge oak tree that covers almost the entire lot. Probably about a 4-5 foot diameter at the base. :D Thing had probably been there for almost 100 years when the house was built ('54, iirc). Or the magnolia tree in my late great-grandmother's yard. Well over 100 years old, and probably a good 50-60 feet tall. Lots of good memories climbing that tree. :D

[NightrainSrt4]

Unless we are talking about different holly trees, or my sarcasm meter is broken today, who in the hell would want to climb one. The two in my family's yard I would never climb. The leaves can hurt, poking you everywhere.

Maybe around there they aren't worth so much, but around here you could get quite a lot of money selling the tree. We have two huge ones that my family has gotten several very large offers for over the years. Apparently a flowering/berry yielding M/F pair is worth quite a lot around here. They haven't been able to part with them yet though. Apparently even though they are huge they can use some big machine to dig them out and move them. *shrug* I would have sold them, but then again my attachment to them is pretty small from the amount of times I got tacked into a huge pile of pointy holly leaves playing football. That sucked, lol.

[x88x]

Unless we are talking about different holly trees, or my sarcasm meter is broken today, who in the hell would want to climb one. The two in my family's yard I would never climb. The leaves can hurt, poking you everywhere.

The leaves were quite far away from the trunk, so no worries about that. The thing that makes holly trees great climbing trees, is the same thing that makes them really annoying in certain places...they grow all over the place. Seriously, some parts were actually difficult to get past because there were so many limbs coming out of the trunk.

I doubt I could have sold it, at least not for what you're thinking. It didn't flower, and produced rather few berries (at least from what I've seen). IDK if there are different species that produce more flowers and berries, but most of the big holly trees I've seen haven't really done much in that area.

[AmEv]

The thing that makes holy trees great climbing trees, is the same thing that makes them really annoying in certain places...

makes holy trees great climbing trees

makes holy trees great


holy trees



WHA?

[x88x]

WHA?

Yeah, yeah, ok, I fixed it. :P

[AmEv]

I tease :P

[Twigsoffury]

you know a cabinet maker would of busted off one when you told him on the phone you've got 900 board feet of Holly for free.

[x88x]

I didn't realize it was a desired material for anything. Interesting. I'd never actually heard of it being used for anything. I know it's a hardwood, as hard as maple and some species of oak, but I guess because of its limb growth patterns it's not commonly cultivated (at least not that I've ever seen). It grows all over the place around here; even more so in southern Delaware where I grew up. When my family lived in DE we had a 20-acre lot, mostly wooded, mostly with trees less than ~50 years old (the area had been logged at some point), and probably about 30% were American Holly; especially around the edges of clearings. It's a remarkably persistent species.

I keep forgetting to count the rings on the stump...tried just now, but I can't make them out clearly enough with a flashlight. I'll try and remember to check them out in the morning; I'm curious to see how old it actually was.

[Luke122]

NOOO!!!!

*sigh*

Holly for a guitar? hmm...

[AmEv]

Holly guitar pick?

[Twigsoffury]

I didn't realize it was a desired material for anything. Interesting. I'd never actually heard of it being used for anything. I know it's a hardwood, as hard as maple and some species of oak, but I guess because of its limb growth patterns it's not commonly cultivated (at least not that I've ever seen). It grows all over the place around here; even more so in southern Delaware where I grew up. When my family lived in DE we had a 20-acre lot, mostly wooded, mostly with trees less than ~50 years old (the area had been logged at some point), and probably about 30% were American Holly; especially around the edges of clearings. It's a remarkably persistent species.

I keep forgetting to count the rings on the stump...tried just now, but I can't make them out clearly enough with a flashlight. I'll try and remember to check them out in the morning; I'm curious to see how old it actually was.


Oh yea, Its used in Dresser drawers and the back side of cabinets a lot on the antique stuff. Should ask the ultimate desk guy, i bet he'd know a lot about that stuff. i just know what my grandpa talked about.

Use a magnifying glass and ask your lady for a few sewing needles or pins or Throwing some stain on it will really show some contrast between the rings.

[x88x]

Interesting.

I got out and counted the rings the other day but forgot to post it. Turns out it's a lot older than I thought. I counted about 70 before it got into the last ~1/2"dia of heartwood, so I'm gonna say probably about 70-75 years old.

[Twigsoffury]

Interesting.

I got out and counted the rings the other day but forgot to post it. Turns out it's a lot older than I thought. I counted about 70 before it got into the last ~1/2"dia of heartwood, so I'm gonna say probably about 70-75 years old.

Just think about all the s@#t that tree could tell you if it had neurons, eyeballs a brain to remember things and some form of communication.


I'd ask it how many children have been in your branches since the beginning of time, and we're lawn mowers scary when you were a sapling?

[Twigsoffury]

It's a big problem here in Oklahoma with people cutting down old growth trees, Here in Oklahoma city you actually have to call the city and request some sort of botanist or crap to come and examine the tree and establish if that tree should be removed or not.

I know in the heritage district you can't remove a tree unless its taken significant damage in a storm has disease or has become structurally deficient and has started to die.

http://paradigmedge.com/wp-content/uploads/R043881290001yA.jpg
http://www.woodrome.com/OKC/images/Heritage-Hills5.jpg

(couldn't find some nice pictures of the old growth trees along hudson ave, but you get the idea..lol )


Which i mean is pretty sweet, because trees really do make a neighborhood. If you want to see two distinct differences between a ghetto and a "nice neighborhood" it's the presence of large trees.

http://www.popphoto.com/files/imagecache/article_main_photo/_images/Camilo-Jose-Vergara-30-Years-Documenting-the-American-Ghetto.jpg


At any rate since i'm radically off-topic...i'd save a few logs and throw them in the smoker and smoke you a couple pounds of assorted meat and toss em in the freezer again.

then you can say... "I ate the tree out back b#%tches"

[x88x]

Oh, I'm far from treeless. ;) I keep meaning to take a picture of my back yard in the daytime, but I haven't actually been home in daylight for...almost a week? Fracking work schedule...should be calming down in a week or so, but crazy busy right now..

Here's a flyover shot..I'll try and remember to get a shot in the morning. Green outline is approximately my lot; red circle is the tree I cut down. Hardly a scratch. ;)
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/flyover.png

[AmEv]

Definitely the GREENEST part of your lot....

[x88x]

Haha, yeah...apparently that picture was taken in the winter...you can really pick out the evergreens. :P

[Liquid_Scope_99]

Nice job man