We cleared the way here for the two massive oak trees below to be hauled away from The Glade.
The 2 trunks that remain need to be hauled out. Charlie found a fellow named Jimmy who has a sawmill and would like to have these oak tree trunks each in one large piece.
These 2 oak trunks are enormous.
The plan is to winch them up our garden path past garden square #1 (from which the trellis has been removed) and onto the lumberman’s truck.
On Jimmy’s first trip he pulled out his trusty, newly-sharpened chainsaw and detached the log from the root ball. Unfortunately the larger diameter tree was starting to rot (see the photos on the left above and below).
The tree trunks were severed from their roots.
When he returned with his winch and flatbed he backed it up to the garden path that runs between the potager and the flower bed near Glade Cottage.
Backing the truck up to the designated spot was not a problem.
Charlie and Jimmy guided the large cable with a hook on the end down to the longer of the trees and encircled the tree with the cable.
The large cable hooks around the trunk.
Jimmy turned on the winch motor and the tree started to move but totally stopped after about 6 inches of progress.
When the action halted Jimmy checked to make sure the winch was working properly.
I suggested there might be a long branch hidden on the underside which was acting like an anchor holding the tree in place. Sure enough. So they sawed off the limb and tried again.
The branch that was holding everything up is just to the right of Charlie’s elbow. After they sawed it off the main trunk the log should move freely.
The tree once again began to inch its way up the hill but it also started rolling to the left away from the other tree and away from the truck.
After a great deal of maneuvering the tip of the log was on the flatbed but the rest of the log had rolled sideways and was no longer lined up with the truck.
With a collection of hooks, cables, supports, anchors and KNOW HOW, the tree was coaxed up the hill . . .
Inch by inch the log was hauled onto the inclined flatbed.
and finally loaded onto the bed of the truck.
You can see the progress in relation to the garden trellis.
As the job became more challenging the men became more committed to getting the tree loaded.
Two hours later the 25-foot log was up the hill and on the truck. (The green foliage is English ivy that was growing on the bark.)
Even with this magnificent rig moving a fallen oak tree (which has been lying in the yard since Hurricane Irene a year ago) is not an easy task.
Even after the tree was loaded it needed to be straightened onto the truck bed for transport.
I helped by staying out of the way.
We bid Jimmy good-bye as he drove his rig down the street.
One down one to go. Please come back soon.
How do you solve BIG dilemmas?
Sidebar: Charlie’s original estimate on the job was 15 minutes.
