Dead Tree (Day #2)

You need to read Dead Tree (Day #1) first.

So, overnight thoughts - if that top branch came off so easily, there are still three more branches up there, if I can loop a rope round them and pull each of them down that'll leave only the vertical trunk and may make the option of lopping it off less scary. The other thought was forget about leaving the fifteen feet for the woodpeckers to play with, let's just lop it off at the base, but Mrs L's still convinced it'll take out the house or the summer house depending on the direction of the fall - honestly no way, but somehow her worries are infectious and seem to overrule logic.

So how to get a rope over the top branches? That'll be the tennis ball in pop sock, attached to string attached to rope trick.

I had various attempts myself in the morning, but never once even got the ball over the branches and as you can see from today's photo there's now a tennis ball, pop sock and bit of string stuck in one of the neighbouring trees - hey ho, time for a coffee & think.

Youngshanks came out to help in the afternoon and he had far more success than me at getting the tennis ball over the branches and on at least three occasions we were pulling the rope over when either the string got tangled up and broke or the knot between the string and the rope caught as it was going over the branch and again the string broke. Hey ho, we need to visit a stronger string shop, but they'll all be closed.

Ah, we've got some fishing line 21lb breaking strain - we'll try that tomorrow.