Cleaning up for "winter"

The previous owners of our house had planted numerous trees out back -- several of them much too close to each other. In particular, a black walnut was planted (or planted itself, maybe) right near the Kwanza Cherry. Black walnuts emit a toxin which kills all other trees around them, so if we had let the walnut grow, the cherry would have been killed. The cherry is absolutely beautiful in the spring with its large pink double flowers -- there was only one choice -- the walnut had to go.

Barry fired up the chain saw, which hadn't been used in about 3 years, and after some time coaxing the machine to wake up, he succeeded. The walnut came down and the back yard opened up a bit.

Not being content with his successes here, he then tackled a maple tree that was shading a dogwood very badly. Not a good idea to do that when there's a man with a chain saw in his hand thinking, "TIMBERRRR!"

When the chips cleared, several major low-hanging branches bit the dust. Now that area is more open and more light can get to the dogwood.

We'll see what tree next challenges Kentucky's version of Paul Bunyan!