Timberrrr...

Scorching hot days are becoming more and more frequent and nice and cloudy days when I can dig in the soil happen less. I got fed up waiting for a cloudy day, and on a very sunny day took my chainsaw and lumberjack gear to make some small adjustments to the forest.
Maybe I mentioned it before, that Mr. O has been saying more than a couple of times that the leaning tree over by North-West side of my plot, which leans over both my land and his, but originates in the plot north of both ours, belonging to many people and none, is quite annoying and that he would be happy if someone (nudge nudge, me) took care of it.
I too think it has to go, cause sooner or later I will have planted something under it and it will fall over during a typhoon and crush everything beneath it.
Last time he said the same thing, I told him I am thinking about cutting it down, and at the same time told him that I want to cut the "roppongi" trees on the west border which I have left intentionally. I told him that the reason I left them there is that they kind of lean too much over his plot and I fear that if I fell them and cannot control it, they will fall over the small trees in his plot and break them.
He said that it's totally fine, and that he didn't care that much if a couple of trees are broken as those are not fruit trees or important trees. There are plenty of small trees in his plot anyway.
So with his permission in mind, I started by cutting down the 4 sugi trees which I judged are in the way if I want to cut down the leaning tree of Pizza.

Before picture

I started with the smallest one, nr 4 from right. It really leaned over Mr. O's land so I didn't even try to make it fall over my land. however, I did cut it so that it wouldn't fall over the row of fruit saplings which he planted last year. I was very happy to see that the tree just missed the saplings, and didn't break any other trees neither when it fell.

Just missed the tiny saplings to its left

My memory from winter told me that felling sugi trees should be relatively easy work and I should be done quickly. Especially if I am not hauling real heavy logs, and if I only fell 4 trees 3 of which are relatively small. So I didn't bring anything to drink with me, which is very exceptional. Huge mistake!
I must have underestimated the heat, because only after having cut down 1 tree, the smallest of the four, I was panting like a dog. Time to run home and bring back some liquid.
Then it was time to cut the tree up in pieces and put the pieces into my plot. I did take care to cut the bits small enough so I didn't have to use much force moving them. Lessons learned from last time. This was all done in an area with lots of shade, so I was spared from the direct sun and heat. But still, the big bottle I brought with me was down to half when I finished the first tree.
The second tree also went down pretty good. That one also fell over Mr. O's land as planned, without hitting any trees, and cut up and moved over to my land. I was staring to feel real confident.
I was out of drink, and facing the 3rd tree, the biggest one. Almost 30 meters tall and with a girth in class with the huge ones I felled in winter. I decided that I would cut that tree first and then go to get a drink.
I could not decide which way it was leaning cause it was a bit curvy and also had lots of big branches on the side that was not my land's side. Anyway, it was a pretty huge tree and I really didn't want it to fall over in Mr. O's land, so I used my trusty wedges and a couple of quick cuts followed by lots of hammering, and it was down in my plot. As a bonus, it just fell down about 1 meter away from my oil drum which I had been too lazy to move.

Juuust missed the drum

I also decided that it was too hot to start chopping down that tree. Not much shade over my plot, and I didn't need to hurry to clean up things. Also it had fallen just south of the line where I had dug out roots, so I don't need to access that part of the land until maybe a year or two from now.
Only one tree left, not big, but not tiny neither. Looking at it I think it was kind of straight, with a tiny tiny lean over Mr. O's plot. Nothing that my wedges and my expertise could not handle. Remember I am extremely confident now. Time to get a drink and cool down a bit before the final, easy tree.

Oh shit.

I guess you can't win them all. I did take my time and wedged properly and cut gradually but the wind was simply not with me. Just when the tree started to kind of fall over, and I heard it crack, a gentle breeze at the wrong time changed its direction and the tree tipped over the wedges instead and fell over diagonally on Mr.O's land. I was able to get out of the way when it was coming down, I think because I was paying attention to the tree's movements and sounds. The tree fell and broke the branches of two small trees in Mr. O's plot, no saplings or fruits though, luckily. And the tree's top went over to the bamboo grove in the north and got stuck there and kind of just hung in there.
Awkward.. but I remembered how I handled a similar situation in winter.
I started to cut it into small logs so that it could gradually fall down on the ground. Every piece I cut made the tree shorter and that piece would fall flat down.
However, for each piece, the remaining of the tree would lean more and more, until it was kind of 60 degrees coming down from the bamboo grove. That was tough cause I had to climb up and stand in the slope, with my arms and the chainsaw lifted more than I was happy with and cut bits of sugi as well as supporting bamboos.
The bamboos were the risky ones, because they were holding the heavy tree with their elasticity, and a tiny cut would make them bounce with great force in unexpected directions. I think I was very lucky that I only had to cut 2-3 bamboos and was not hit by them. Also the slope was pretty slippery being sandy covered with leaves, so I did slip once.
Anyway, with lots and lots of effort, and a huuuge deal of caution, I managed to clean up the mess. Mr. O will surely notice the 2 broken trees but I had his blessing beforehand in case.

cleaned up

I was out of energy, thirsty and hungry. And had spent much longer than I had expected, so I called it a hot day and went home. Another day when I feel ready, I will cut the bamboos surrounding the leaning tree as well as the leaning tree itself.

After picture