Some things are best hired out.

To build this garage we need to remove trees. Lots of trees. Living in a forest has it's advantages but removing 15 trees for an addition is not among them. Most of the trees need to be removed for fire mitigation. Some are too close to the house or new structure and should be removed to prevent the house or garage from going up in flames WHEN we have a forest fire. (The inspector made the when point very strongly.) 3 of the 15 trees were simply in the way of where we were putting the garage. We started with those.

I have walked the site extensively and was familiar with every tree we would have to take down. The three in question were undoubtedly the biggest. By big I'm talking 80 - 100 year old Ponderosa pines. Their trunks are 18 - 24 inches in diameter. Knowing this I phoned every tree cutting operation in town and got some quotes on cutting these bad boys down. The best number I got was $550 for three trees to come down, be bucked and the slash chipped and left on site. I thought this was a great deal.

Keith did not.

We have a chainsaw. It still has the original safety chain on it. That's what we started with. A safety chain, as I learned, is made in such a way so that it won't cut as deeply or aggressively into the wood. This is safer because it won't cause the chainsaw to buck and possibly kill you. Seems like a good idea. Unfortunately 1/2 way through the initial cut into the first tree we realized the safety chain was just not going to cut it. Literally. Keith, now full of fury as the full realization of what a huge job this was going to be set in, pushed that chain to the limits and felled the first tree. He even managed to take off a few of the limbs before we came to the conclusion we would have to rent a chainsaw with a better chain. Why not just buy a new chain for our chainsaw? Because, naturally we bought a chainsaw from a little operation that has since gone out of business. Home Depot doesn't sell them or parts for them and the only place that does is 45 minutes away. The rental place is comparatively around the corner.

An hour later Keith is back, we've had lunch and begin attack the other two trees. The new chainsaw is amazing and is cutting through the wood like a hot knife through butter. But we only rented it for the day, a Saturday, and the rental place is closed on Sunday. We have to finish the job by 5:30 or we pay two more days on the chainsaw. That simply won't do. So as Keith is bucking up the trunks he is making the pieces longer and longer in an attempt to get them out of the way and still get the trunk bucked in time. In the end we have logs that are 3 feet long, 20 inches in diameter and completely un-liftable.

I was left to roll (yes, roll) 30 massive logs out of the area to be excavated. In the end it took us two days to totally clear the space. On Sunday, Keith pushed our chainsaw to it's limits to get through the little that was left. The last few cuts I felt I should be on hand with a fire extinguisher because there was more smoke than sawdust coming out of the cut.

We also accumulated a massive amount of slash that we have to chip. I know there are companies that come in and chip everything for you but I have a feeling that someone, and I'm not mentioning any names, will think it will be cheaper if we do it ourselves. sigh.