Autumn

"Well,let's go,then,man,"I said to Nik,looking at my watch,"We started this tree in spring.Let's not drag it out all the way past autumn."

Tea

I moved the wedge a little in one direction and pounded against it.This unpinched the tree trunk just enough for the (luckily undamaged)saw to pop free.
Nikolas smiled in awe and amazement,"Man,you know your stuff.Thank you."
"Yes,I do,"I replied,"And did you know that the root of the sassafras tree makes a lovely tea."

Anonymous

"Sorry,man,"Nikolas said to me,"I didn't think that would happen."
"Don't worry about it,Nik,"I replied,"Just remember the words of the great prophet,'Anonymous'whom said,"Shit happens."

Oracle

Nik,not thinking I was funny,let the stuck saw drop from his hands.
"I,the oracle of all things chainsaw,know that you must simply place a wedge,here,and then you smack it with a mallet,here."
*Thunk*
"or perhaps I need to place it here."
*Thunk*,again.
"OK,"I said,"This might take just a tad more work."

Despair

"Shit!"Nikolas said,struggling to get the chain saw out.
"Do not despair,my young padawan,"I said,smiling,"For I have sledge and wedge."

Novel

A novel approach to releasing a chainsaw pinched on top of a trunk is to jump up on the tree and bounce your weight up and down.This sometimes relieves the pressure put upon it.There was no such trick when it was pinched on the bottom.

Elegant

There is no particularly elegant way of getting a stuck twenty inch chainsaw loose when it is massively jammed under two large sections of silver maple trunk.Mostly you just hope and pray that the chain or bar isn't bent.

Akimbo

I stood akimbo,sans cape,like Superman,shaking my head in false disgust,"Now.you've done,"I spoke,half in jest,"Let me get the sledge and wedge."

Transcendentalism

Tree Trimmers,by rote,are practitioners of realistic-transcendentalism:Your saw will always run out of gas just before you finish your last cut.The supervisor will always come out when you are fucking off.Your rope will always get caught on the interfering limb you decided not to cut out,and a newbie will always get is his chain saw pinched:"Shit," yelled Nikolas.

Juxtapose

Some guys cut off one piece of the trunk at a time.Of course you could cut half way through almost any piece,and then just juxtapose your final cut all the way throughout the fallen tree as well.

Elevate

I fought with the knot long and hard.I only managed to free it just as Nik was coming back sharpened,gassed and oiled.Cutting a big truck up could be tricky.If you could elevate a section off the ground(or if one was already elevated),you started with that,cutting top to bottom(well,maybe a small undercut.first).If both ends were touching the ground,you always cut from bottom-up.

Waystation

If we were at the waystation-gabbing it up-many a story would be told about fallen trees and terrible stumps.About pinched saws and tripping over the branches.While it was mostly,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah(the same old stories over and over again),you could learn new things.One of the oldest stories was about the pull knot that would not untie..yep,this was one of them.

Green

The owner wanted the trunk cut up into firewood,and the branches cut so that they could be stacked on a bonfire.Green wood needed to be dried in order to burn well,but once seasoned,he would have a bunch of nice wood for the fireplace.

Odious/Ethereal

"Odious,man,"Nikolas stated as he looked down at the remaining stump.It had a giant crevice running through the middle of it.Dirt,rock filled most of it.Suddenly,I wondered the ethereal difference:was it luck or skill that got the tree down safely?Well,my consolation was that it is said that a good team makes their own luck.

Decadent

"Good job,man,"I said,touching fists with Nik,"All we have to do,now,is cut this shit up,and you can go home to get ready for your date with Alice."
"Man that felt soo good,it was almost decadent-I slammed the bitch,"Nik said with excitement,"Man,what a rush!"
"Well,"I said,putting my hands up in quotation marks,"If you 'rush',we can get the hell out of here.....You need to sharpen the saw,first."

VITREOUS MOM

In the end,I did little pulling.It went where we wanted it to go on it's own.It slammed to the ground.I flipped the rope(more out of instinct then anything else),then braced myself as the inevitable gush of wind slapped against me.
"Fuckin' 'Vitreous,Mom!"Yelled Nik reggae style-excited about what he had just done.It was just another nonsense mispronounced word or phrase that had somehow caught on into our work vocabulary....Like,'Skovie';'Yella handed stewed dhwyvva' and of course,'No Gondo'.

And

*Crraccck!!!*And it fell.

Cascade

Most newbies didn't know how strong they could be.Until you've had the cascade of fear,injury or actually death flowing through your veins,you couldn't know....And there lie their weakness.

Crescendo

The chainsaw,as it cut through the wood,was building up to it's crescendo in both noise and power.I could feel the tree tilt.I pulled the rope tight-tight with tremendous strength.The rope was so taut,a tightrope walker could walk up it.Slack off,now,Nik.Slack off.

Bower

So,you could say that Nikolas,basically became the rudder,while I,at the end of my rope,basically became the bower.But it was not just my weight that made me the anchor at the end of the ship's bow...it was how I was going to use it.

Economy

I heard Nikolas re-starting the chainsaw as I walked towards the end of the pull rope.Gloves were a must.Helping the economy did not include me paying the hospital to patch up my fingers.

Magick

I quickly looked over the teeth of the saw.While not as sharp as I would have liked,the dullness would actually slow the cutting down enough that I would not have to worry about Nik hammering at it too hard.What some people called life experience,I called the magick of fucking up religiously.

Quixotic

I had no Quixotic aspirations.I didn't chase windmills...they chased me.I had no intentions on being the hero here.The secret was not in the cut-any idiot paying half attention could do it-it was in the pull,"This is your baby,Nik.Cut about a half inch above your bottom cut.And cut to the right:slowly.Leave the left alone.When you feel it start to go:stop cutting,and get the hell out of Dodge."

Mourning

I never was one for mourning the death of trees.Death was a part of life.Trees were a renewable resource.And I had seen a bulldozer destroy an acre of trees in the time it took me to take down half of one.

Vacation

I covered my mouth with my hand and rubbed it around,"This ain't gonna be no vacation,Bub,"I said,channeling Jake.I was thinking,if it fell left it would wipe out a fence and a swimming pool.If it fell to the right(Most likely),it would wipe out a shed and maybe the side of the house.