Today is the day

of the Great Burning.

We've had a ton of brush in the side yard, mostly since last winter when a 70mph wind blew the top out of the maple tree in the front yard. Since then we've had a few other branches blow down and I just never had time (or dry weather) to get out with the chain saw and cut up the big stuff.

So I was going to cut the grass today and Sally was going to do some gardening, and we decided instead to go after this giant pile of brush. Sadly I don't have a "before" picture, but here's what's left of it after several hours of breaking down and burning:

Here's the cleared area...this was completely covered with tree limbs and brush five hours ago:

Aaaaand here's what's left of all the stuff we cleared:

(Please note that I have no intention of burning the treated timbers; they're going to be carted away to the landfill.)

I think it's nap time. Oh, and time to send an email to Algore to let him see the works of our hands, yea verily, we have converted dead wood to carbon in the air. Global warming my ass.

UPDATE: As noted, I don't have a before picture, but I do have a picture of the main part of what we cut up and burned today, from the day after it fell out of the tree it belonged to:

A few larger pieces are still out front waiting for me to take the chain saw to them but I managed to get most of it around the side back in early spring, joining two large branches out of one of the back yard trees that had fallen in my neighbor's yard the fall before. It was quite the mess and I'm frankly surprised that a) nobody called the health department on us, and b) that no critters had made a home in it.

Although with regard to a), my neighbor on the other side of the house has a lawn that looks like the barrio in East L.A. -- the only thing missing are some chickens and a rooster -- so maybe it isn't a shock after all.