Tree Trimming

By Uncle Hans

Here is today's project.  If you look close, you can see that this beautiful pet Colorado blue spruce has two "head buds".  Normally a coniferous tree has one bud on the top each year that goes on to be incorporated into a taller trunk.  On occasion, like injury to a top or head bud, two will form in it's place.  It results in a split or forked trunk, unsightly in a pet tree in the front yard.  Now when the tree is 6 feet tall, this is easy to fix by simply snipping one off.  But when the tree is 30 feet tall,..............what to do?....

..........well you take the OD's little "varmint" .22 up on the roof and "snip" one off from a distance.........

......(the tractor is handier than the ladder)  Well, this is not as easy as it looks............

And it looks pretty hard, considering the target is thinner than a pencil, and the distance is about 40 feet.......

  .........but with a little patience, I got the extra head bud................

.......I have seen lots of "trophy shots" but never one celebrating a victory over a tree...........

.............in 2004, a tornado damaged the head bud and the next year I had to shoot an extra one off.  It took 7 tries.  This time Tinker has 8 new shiny toys to play with.
So I am consistent in my poor marksmanship.

(and thanks to Renee for bravely climbing the tractor to take the pictures!)

By Uncle Hans