I'm a little like Leo in that, only I saw. As in, 'I saw my firewood up with a hand-saw.'
I've so many trees now in need of pruning; apples, alders, beech, koromiko, makomako, totara etc. that the limbs I remove for the sake of ease of access to the forested parts of my garden pile up and block paths, unless I process them further into logs for the fire. I use a pruning saw for that, and I love doing it.
Here's a shot of yesterday's barrow-full of wood.
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I trimmed my rather grown photinia hedge last weekend and was beginning to despair at what to do with the enormous mound of foliage that resulted. It was too small to convert to firewood. I piled it up and put a wooden pallet on the windward side, and set the pallet on fire. I thought it would be too wet to burn, but since I'd blocked the driveway the only alternative was to restack it.
Anyway, the wind going through the gaps in the pallet generated enough heat to get the photinia burning, which created enough of a base of embers. After four hours or so it was all gone.
The pallet had been stored inside for a couple of year and was dry as a bone, which probably helped.
I love pruning trees. My pruning saw is a bit more curved than yours. If I wasn't at the other end of the country I'd give you a hand. And if I didn't have to prune the roses this weekend.
Ha! A fellow pruning enthusiast! Dare I assume that you're a pyromaniac as well? You photinia adventure hints at the possibility...
I've even trilled my neighbour's hedge in the past, while they were out. Shouldn't confess to such things I suppose, but I can always deny it til my face turns blue if challenged (it was just satire!). There's is a leylandii, most evil of hedges, and was obscuring my view of the placid waters of the estuary, so I took my pruning saw and scampered up the first tree of the hedge and cut my way through to the last, lopping the cursed thing off at 4 metres. It took all day to do and when he discovered my work, the neighbour was livid (property rights and all that). In total, I did it 5 times over the years, risking life, limb and litigation each time. I made huge bonfires with the resulting volatile-oil-filled prunings. Should have just lit the hedge I suppose. Save a lot of clambering, but that's the bit I like most :-)
trilled=trimmed
I quite liked the idea of you trilling your neighbour's hedge.
I have a leylandii hedge on my western boundary, but I'm using it to make my neighbour's place cold, so I don't want to trim it.
Having said that, he's planted a matching one adjacent to mine, and another at the edge of his northern yard, so I don't feel particularly guilty about his house being cold.
I'm just back from retrospectively trilling said hedge - I'm determined that it'll become a regular thing here. Thanks for alerting me to the possibility Armchair!
Chilling out your neighbour! How neighbourly! Still, if he's going to plant leylandii, I'm with you.
I don't feel that neighbourly towards this particular neighbour - he's a prick.
My leylandii were here when I bought the place - it's only staying here until it's big enough to turn into rounds. I planted corokia for hedging.
Corokia is excellent.
I only discovered corokia a year or so back. It's a beautiful plant.
I've avoided the other half of the subject, too, so far, so I'll address it by saying that I prefer Kafka to Tolstoy. Though recently there's been no need for Kafka; I just need to read about what various ministers of our government has been doing.
Kia ora Robert,
Synchronistically I spent yesterday around my unruly property doing the same thing with a saw exactly like that. I carry it in the mountains as well, in a case, as it comes in very very handy at the huts.
Cheers,
Robb
Ahh yes, nothin like a bit of justified vandalism!
Cupressocyparis leylandii be damned!
AC - I've been a Kafka fan in earlier days - Metamorphosis remains clearly etched today. You comparing him to the Government of the day is entirely appropriate. Steve Braunias even linked Key and a cockroach earlier this week.
Ruahine - hi there Robb - yep, that's a very good saw (not all pruning saws last the distance - that one's doing very well indeed. The folding-handle versions don't make the cut for me.
Shunda - amen brother!
My brother has discovered the joy of firewood collection, spends half his weekend out and about with the handsaw.
Last week he got stuck on the beach and ended up spending the night there!, too proud to ring his bro until the morning!!
Moocher eh!
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