After the thrill of the downed power line sizzling the drive at VBAS on Saturday, I was pumped with enough testosterone to get out my chainsaw and go back up there to cut down another tree that threatened to fall on the power line in the future. In my opinion, there’s not much that's more fun than ripping through trees with an 18" Husqvarna!
Once the fun started, I hated to quit. So Sunday morning I called my neighbor, Larry, to see if he wanted to clear out the two or three small trees that've grown to block the streetlight in front of both our yards. He was ready and I met him after breakfast to tackle the trees.
About a month ago, I found out about a program that our local utility company has to shield streetlights that produce intrusive light. The shield is in the form of a Hubbell Skycap (see : http://store.starrynightlights.com/hub-skycap.html). As an avid amateur astronomer, I’m very interested in preserving and restoring our dark skies. The program to shield nuisance light has the side effect of reducing light pollution. In my case, I wanted both. I do most of my home observing from my front deck, which is on a hill and thus elevated above the level of the top of the streetlight. I always hated the blaring light shining upwards into my face while trying to observe the Crab Nebula or some such faint fuzzy. The Skycap assures that light only shines downward, not upward. I was glad to plop down the fifty bucks to have it installed. Once it was installed, however, I found out that the tree in the adjacent vacant lot had grown so close that it was reflecting most of the light up to my deck. That’s why I wanted to get out the chainsaw. My neighbor wanted to cut down a few other small trees to provide space for a nice yellow maple to thrive.
I wielded my chainsaw two days in a row and it felt good. We finished the job around 11:30am; in time for me to put up the tools, take a shower, and take my woman to a movie matinee.
Once the fun started, I hated to quit. So Sunday morning I called my neighbor, Larry, to see if he wanted to clear out the two or three small trees that've grown to block the streetlight in front of both our yards. He was ready and I met him after breakfast to tackle the trees.
About a month ago, I found out about a program that our local utility company has to shield streetlights that produce intrusive light. The shield is in the form of a Hubbell Skycap (see : http://store.starrynightlights.com/hub-skycap.html). As an avid amateur astronomer, I’m very interested in preserving and restoring our dark skies. The program to shield nuisance light has the side effect of reducing light pollution. In my case, I wanted both. I do most of my home observing from my front deck, which is on a hill and thus elevated above the level of the top of the streetlight. I always hated the blaring light shining upwards into my face while trying to observe the Crab Nebula or some such faint fuzzy. The Skycap assures that light only shines downward, not upward. I was glad to plop down the fifty bucks to have it installed. Once it was installed, however, I found out that the tree in the adjacent vacant lot had grown so close that it was reflecting most of the light up to my deck. That’s why I wanted to get out the chainsaw. My neighbor wanted to cut down a few other small trees to provide space for a nice yellow maple to thrive.
I wielded my chainsaw two days in a row and it felt good. We finished the job around 11:30am; in time for me to put up the tools, take a shower, and take my woman to a movie matinee.
1 comment:
We have a cute Sheltie named Abigail who has the weird habit of lunging to bite anything that makes a loud sound. (During thunderstorms, she dashes out into the yard to chase the thunder.) One time she lunged for a chainsaw I had just cranked. I had to slap her away with my free hand. (No , it doesn't end badly.) Dumbass dog. I have a worthless Sears Craftsman chainsaw that has been fixed like 6 times and will still only crank once. So I used Diana's $30 Remington electric chainsaw attached to six extension cords. I feel like half a man, but it works.
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