The physics of falling

It's the falling of trees I'm talking about. If you were looking for something else, move along.

There's nothing to see here.

Just got the Stihl back from the shop to the tune of $132.31. Add that to the routine maintenance and the big bill from the time it got caught in the grass-fire and Junior drove over it with the truck, the cost of repairs has by now surpassed the original lay-out for the saw.

But I've got it back and I'm planning the next cut. There's a recently-dead elm along the drive, about thirty feet away from the house.

The elm is forty or fifty feet high.

Right away you can see the potential problem. Mind you, when I was in the back woodlot the other day, just about the only thing that went right was that when I dropped the dead elm it landed inches away from the truck. Usually I get at least a few feet the other way.

So things are looking up.  And I'm looking up at the elm and trying to figure how I can ensure that her fall will not involve taking out the south-west corner of the house.

When my brother the tree guy came up for a visit shortly after I bought the place, he was impressed by the elms but assured me they'd be dying soon.

He was right.

But I've still got a whack of healthy ones, so he wasn't that right.

Why do some die and others don't?

But this one I'm looking up at is a gonner. The woodpeckers have been at it all summer. There's not a hint of green to be seen.

She's a gonner.

About twelve feet above grade the trunk splits in two. I need to get up there and cut the back trunk off to ensure that the rest of the tree will fall away from the house. That leaves me with a bit of a conundrum.

Ya, I've got ladders that will get me up there, but I've got a thing about chainsaws and ladders.

Just not an appealling combination if you know what I mean.

So here's what I'm thinking. I'll park the loader by the tree, with the bucket just about where you'd want to be standing to cut that back trunk off. Then I'll use the ladder to climb up into the bucket with the saw, and I'M HOME FREE!

What could possibly go wrong?

My daddy's gonna be proud...