I got so mulch honey, the bees envy me!

OK, the sound of my phone not ringing is Motown not calling...

I arrived home last Friday to find that a Bradford Pear tree in my front yard had been done in by the wind.

If it had happened years ago, I would have been really upset and probably cussed at the situation.  And it wouldn't have changed anything.

So, I got straight to work with my, uh, electric chainsaw, and started trimming away the part of the tree that was on the house.  Shortly, my next door neighbor came over, and volunteered to help, with his electric chainsaw.  I used to laugh at electric chainsaws, but say what you will, they start on the first trigger pull.  In a bit over a half-hour, we had the limbs off the house, and other than a few nicked shingles, no structural damage.

Unfortunately, I still had a front yard full of downed tree.

The next day, I pulled out the chipper/shredder and commenced to pulverize the little limbs, for about three hours, until a chunk wedged between the chipper plate and its housing, bringing the operation to a standstill.  Mid-afternoon, I was on the phone with my folks, and mentioned the tree situation.  About forty-five minutes later, they showed up, Dad with Stihl [gas-powered] chainsaw in hand.  He got all the larger diameter limbs cut down to size in no time.  So, now I'm going to try to chip/shred what's left every day after work - hopefully to completion before the weekend.

This afternoon after working for about 1-1/2 hours, I was covered in wood pulp and dust - looked like a stunt double from The Swamp Thing.

And, in case you wondered, here's what the business end of the machine looks like.  I had to take it apart Saturday night to clear the jam, and then decided to sharpen the knives and shredders while I was at it.

Thank goodness for Caterpillar assembly compound.