Tree Felling

When I bought my house, there was a junk tree growing up between the pipes of my AC's outdoor unit (condenser?).  I knew this was bad news and would have to come down.

It's not only dangerously on the pipes but it has also torn down the fencing around the unit.  For a small tree, it is very, very tall.  I have slowly been hacking at it in efforts to get rid of it.  A couple of weeks ago I brought down a major top branch as well as a branch off the stump.

No, I am not trying to fullfil my lifelong dream of becoming a lumberjack.  I'm just trying to save a few bucks by taking care of it myself.  Once I got various branches trimmed off, I went to work on the trunk.  Basically I just sawed on it over the course of a week or so.  It was a process.

Eventually I sawed it to the point where it could be snapped off.  Luckily I had some guys over for Easter and was able to finally bring down the main part of the tree.  I'm guessing it was about 20-25 feet tall.  It had to be a two person job because I didn't want to damage the pipes while pulling on the trunk.  And it worked!

Now I just have to chop it up a little more so that I can get it out to the curb for bulk trash pickup.  I'm trying to think of it as my new upper body workout.  This weekend I'll drill holes in my trunk and apply the stump killer I bought.  And at some point I hope to repair the fencing.  Eventually this sideyard will be a little more presentable and I will have rock hard biceps.