The Tree Man

Yesterday I put on my working shoes, long sleeve shirt, hauled out the 20ft ladder and started to climb to the top of a unappreciated pecan tree in my front yard. I have never been afraid of trying massive projects that were foreign to me so trying to trim my own trees seemed a great way to save money and to get my outdoors on. Well, I hadn't cut two branches when I felt that this was something the pros should do... at least I needed someone else to help. But I kept going. I started to climb the tree with my electric chain saw when I heard a zapping noise and saw 15 birds flying directly at me. Smoke began to rise from the alley and I instantly had no power. A transformer had blown. I immediately felt my iPhone vibrating and new that it was my wife Casey calling me to see if I was still alive. Well, she thought I fell and grabbed the wires on my way down to a very shocking death. But seemed that a squirrel managed to get fried chewing on the power lines. I took this as a sign that maybe I was suppose to retire early from the tree pruning business and let the pros do it.
So, today I hired a man to come to my house and trim 2 trees and to cut down another. He showed up at 8 this morning and brought his little boy and 5 month old baby. Side Note: They had tamales for breakfast and lunch. They gave me one and I tried it... ok no I didn't. Anyhow, he started by trowing a rope over some limbs and continued to pull himself up into the canopy of my 100 year old Pecan Tree. He went at it for a few hours then he moved on to the tree that was to be removed. This is where I learned a valuable lesson.... experience is very important for tree trimming. There was about 4 feet of wiggle room between the house, the fence, the A/C unit, and a storage shed. He would cut the limbs and push them down, knowing where they would land and how they would bounce. He knew exactly where to cut. I was amazed.
I realized that I can't do everything and that part of putting my big boy pants on in the morning is being able to decide what I can and can't do before the power goes out and it is decided for me.