Progress!

When I went over to the hardware store the other day to get that rope to do a temporary fix on the fence, the lady next to me at the check-out counter said she would have someone she knows give me a call about cutting up that tree that fell on the fence.  Well he didn't get in contact with us until today.  But as it turns out, he not only has the large chain saw needed for THAT tree, but he also has the equipment to do a lot of other things we need to get done. 

Well, he started by coming back this evening and cutting up that tree and getting it off the fence. 

Don Swain, "Affordable Tree Cutting" (an appropriate business name, huh?)

It will still need to be collected up and stuck in the trailer and hauled out to the road so the Parish will haul it off, but at least it's not laying on the fence anymore.  And the pieces now are all small and fairly light so it won't kill poor Buddy to try and move them.  (His back is about as bad as ours are!)

Don (the guy who cut up the tree) will be coming back over to give us a price to clear out the entire outside edge of the property -- the space we INTENDED for use as a riding path. 

This is that back area where we intended to ride -- at least before Katrina.
It was beautiful back there then - rows of trees on both sides of that space.

Look at all the TALL weeds and trees along that side fence
(there at the back of this photo). 
Twenty feet or so of clear land would be great --
and we could keep it mowed from that point on!

If his price to clear the property edges is good, then once those spaces have been cleared of weeds and even small trees, we'll talk about how much money he would want to "top" a number of those trees along the wooded back and side AND inside the pasture.  If we can afford it, it would really be wonderful to have the top third of most of those huge trees cut off so they would grow more wide AND be a lot less likely to come crashing down like that last one did. 

Not sure when he'll be back but I'm really looking forward to getting his bids.  Fingers crossed.