Tree-Monkey Workout

The Workout:

Saw many branches w/ handsaw
Drag said branches around yard and stack behind shed
Climb up and down remaining 20ft tall tree, 20 times

The seemingly healthy 30' tall pine tree smack in the middle of my back yard died inexplicably this year. It is as if it just forgot to wake up this spring, dropped all its needles and cashed in its chips. While very disappointed, I still turned the removal process into a fun workout. After cutting down, dragging and stacking everything I could tackle without a chainsaw (at a fast pace), I climbed up and down the skeleton of the tree 20 times in a row. I purposely left about 3 inches of the major branches so I could easily work my way up when trimming the smaller stuff. These made for a great jungle gym. The climbing was super easy but I wore my self out doing it over and over again. This was very satisfying and now I'm having second thoughts about removing the rest of the trunk :o).