Retiring the Snag.

The old cherry tree in our back yard has been dead for years. An occasional perch for a hummingbird seeking to dominate our yard, it was otherwise unusable and decomposing. We decided to bring it down while the wood was still mostly good, and replace it with a couple of smaller fruit trees.
Fortunately, my sister Ellen and her husband Ralph are deeply into woodworking, and know just what to do with cherry logs. Even better, Ralph had experience taking down trees - they may look innocent, but there's a lot of potential energy stored in branches weighing hundreds of pounds, resting 30 feet in the sky.
I was happy to provide the dumb labor as Ralph cut. It was a good thing that I borrowed Eric's hard hat; I accidentally bonked my head with a branch only once, but without the topper, it would've been painful instead of merely silly.
I am confident that the tree understands were took it out of need, not wantonness, and will put it all to good use. We are responsible for the care of our land!
And thanks, Ralph and Ellen, for making this possible. It was an very interesting day, and the job needed doing, but I could not have done it myself.