Clean up

The hedge guys arrived on Tuesday morning as scheduled. There were four of them. Two started right away on the back hedge while the boss and another guy started cutting up the fallen apple tree. I took some photos in mid-morning, but don't have any more yet. At this stage they were cutting the small branches off for mulching and beginning to cut the larger branches and stacking them for firewood.

These two apples, the big one and the smaller one in the background, are now history.

All the work is done now. In addition to the hedge trimming, we had three trees cut down: the big apple in the photo, the smaller apple (just to the right of the back gate in the photo), and a completely dead pear in the northeast corner of the north 40. The small apple is dying and is filled with mistletoe; the pear has been dead for several years now.

I asked if they could cut the branches to the length that our wood-stove takes: 33 centimeters. No problem, they said, and now I have firewood ready to go (for next year, probably). I also have one or two new chopping blocks for doing the splitting. It's a real relief to have this done, and done so quickly.

What didn't get done is the removal of the tall blue spruce. The contractor said that he'd prefer to do that bigger job this winter, when his schedule will be lighter. That's fine with us. I'll have more photos of the trees firewood soon.