How we learned to use a chainsaw

So, as you may have seen in one of my photos, we recently had a tornado go through our neighborhood. We were fortunate enough to have our house spared from the hundreds of trees that fell during the store. We just had one tree down in the very back of our backyard and a broken window in the basement. So, right after the storm, we focused on cleaning up the small debris in our yard and not worrying about the tree.

Last weekend, we decided we needed to do something about it. We don't have a chainsaw, so we borrowed one from a generous neighbor. After searching the hardware store for the bar and chain oil (which ended up being right in front of our face), we were headed home to cut up our tree. My husband nor I had ever used a chainsaw, but how hard could it be, right?

Wrong.

We got the darn thing gassed up, oiled up, and ready to go, followed the instructions, and got it started. Yeah!!! But, that only lasted for about five seconds. We tried again. And again. As my husband and I started to get agitated with each other, I said "Here, let me try." As I tried for myself, I realized that the string for the started was tangled inside the chainsaw somewhere. Crap! It's not even our chainsaw. What were we to do?

I sent dearest hubby for some tools...screwdrivers mostly. After taking half of the chainsaw apart, untangling the string, and putting it back together, we were back in business. The neighbor will never know :-)

So, we finally got the darn thing started for more than five seconds and made our first cut. Okay, half a cut. The saw got stuck about halfway through the trunk of the tree. We were both getting a little (ok, a lot) frustrated at this point. After prying the saw out of the tree (those screwdrivers actually came in handy again), I took a try.

We finally started to figure out how to maneuver the saw to cut quickly and easily without getting stuck. We had a slow start, but after we got the hang of it, we worked like a well oiled machine. We cut up the tree and branches and stacked them neatly. All in all, it was a job well done.

So, lesson of the day -- If at first you don't succeed, try and try again!

P.S. I also recommend finding a neighbor that is so generous he'll just do the sawing for you!