A 10' pole

I've recently had a battle with an evil tree and a 10' pole was the instrumental device in resolving the conflict.


There was this one pernicious tree i was cutting down that simply refused to fall over.  This evil tree in question was growing up through the roots of a a huge birch and was threatening the integrity of the old sawmill foundation wall. It was a prime target for my wood gathering needs and property improvement. I notched the side I wanted the timber to drop, I cut the back and the cut opened slightly and the tree refused to fall.

Now normally I'd saw at it a little more and give it a push but the location this tree was in simply made that a virtual impossibility. It's been a Clark Griswold winter so far I didn't need to add to the fun by slipping in the snow, pitching myself off into a the old foundation, and getting squished by a 30-40' tall tree.

The ultimate solution was a 10' pole. A maple sapling had been uprooted sometime in the spring or summer by a large pine limb falling on it and was surprising intact, seasoned, and firm. with just a but of trimming I turned the sapling into a 10' pole (I'll confess i haven't actually measured said pole it may only be 9' long but that just doesn't have the same cache as a 10' pole so for the purposes of this tale it is a 10' pole). A 10' pole is an excellent tool, one of the most powerful tools of all: a lever.

With my trusty 10' pole in hand I did battle with the evil tree. I took about 2 weeks for me and the 10' pole to prevail. First the 10' pole and I battled to get the darned tree to actually break and it did and decided to come to rest exactly atop it's stump. Next the 10' pole was essential in leveraging the tree off the stump where it immediately came to rest on the old sawmill foundation wall.  Dislodging it from the perch on the wall resulted in the darned tree standing free on the old foundation floor, before I manged to get it's upper branches snarled in those of a another tree.

I made use of rope and the 10' pole and managed to pull the tree out of the one it snarled itself into and it immediately leaped into the welcoming limbs of yet another tree. I managed to rap myself in the head with the 10' pole at thus stage while trying to lever the bottom of the tree of the ground with soem rope and the 10' pole, I let it sit for a couple days so as to fool it into complacency and resume my attack when it wasn't looking.

Yesterday morning i renewed my assault on the evil tree. I abandoned the rope which was trying it's best to entangle, trip, or hang me. I fetched a big old log and used it so as to lever the base of the tree out further, this created more leaning but also dug the base of the tree into the ice, snow, and dirt. I gave up on that tactic and took the 10' pole back up to the foundation wall and very carefully deployed the 10' pole to poke the evil tree until gravity and my proddign defeated it's embrace with another bothersome piece of timber.

A 10' pole proved to be an essential piece of gear. Thank you D&D.