Loving The Battery Tools

 Sometimes there are inventions that just make life so much easier - like the brilliance of putting wheels on luggage.

For, the past few years for me, it's been battery powered tools.  They're smaller, lighter, and a heckuva lot easier to start than gas powered.  In the last couple of years I've bought a lawnmower, chainsaw, and my most recent brush cutter.

They're wearing me out.  As I wrote in the last post, I'm really trying to get the yard under control as much as possible before the unbearable weather sets in, and it's just about here.  I've taken to going out and doing an hour or two of work before breakfast (because I'm not inclined to set an alarm on the mornings I'm not going in to the Museum to get up early enough to eat before it gets light.)

I got the new brush cutter on Friday, June 7. So Saturday, Sunday, and Monday I did the morning yard work thing.  Tuesday and Wednesday was the Museum (and it was bloody hot - heat indices are already hitting 100).  Thursday - I just sort of sat on my arse.  I'd also been dealing all week with too much drama with Bob's friend, who just didn't want to take no for an answer (that's been dealt with; the joys of electronic communication is that you can block someone).  So a day of rest was, I think, well deserved.

For the last two days I've been dealing with a couple of fallen trees behind the house (I took this picture from the deck - really should have taken one at ground level)

You can see the one tree; the other one fell a couple of months ago (when I was still involved in The Great Barn Clean out) and is under it.  They're both tangled up in azaleas and underbrush, but I've just been attacking it methodically.  This is where the joy of the battery powered chain saw comes in - it's just so much safer.  The proper protocol - which I follow - is that at first with hand clippers and loppers you clear any obstacle from the part you want to cut.  Then you position both feet firmly, make the cut, stop the chainsaw and put it down, and lift the cut portion of the tree out of the way.

That's the proper way - which a lot of people don't do because with a gas saw it's a pain in the butt to keep restarting it, so it's tempting just to sort of try to push stuff out of the way, or take a few steps to reposition yourself for the next cut (shoving your cut piece out of your way with your feet), or even just reach over to make it.

Battery powered saw?  Just click it off.  Prep for the next cut.  Pick up the saw and click it on.  *So* much safer.

And yeah, once again I could hire someone and have it all done in a hour or two - but where's the satisfaction of that?  It feels good doing it, both mentally and physically.  It's using muscles they way they're meant to be used  - together, in unison, shifting from one to another.  I remember when we had to have some big trees taken out, and the tree guy had a young assistant.  The old term "whipcord" comes to mind - the kid was lanky, with skinny arms.  But he was picking up lengths of oak that had to weigh over a hundred pounds and tossing them out of the way.  When I commented on his strength, he said "Yes, ma'am.  I'm country strong.  Those gym bros - they may have the big muscles, but they don't know how to do any work with them."

Another day or two and I'll have that job done.  This next picture shows why I'm doing it - other than having a dead tree lying tangle up in the azaleas lacks aesthetics.  When a tree falls (or gets the top torn off, like in a hurricane or tornado), it pollards - starts sending up new shoots.  Here's a chunk of the tree that fell in the spring.

You can see all the new growth on it.  If I don't cut it up and drag it off - it will be moving the forest a couple of feet closer to the house.  And it's a bit close as it is.  I've got two more mornings to work on it.  Then it's back to the Museum for two days, and I'm thinking that once again, on Thursday, I'll rest.