Well, spring has (finally) sprung in the Chicago area, and I spent a good part of today out the yard doing clean-up: Specifically, the bushes along the back fence.

This area has been pretty much ignored by me since moving in (will be six years this October, methinks), and – from the looks of things – pretty much ingored for over a decade. Bleh.

Basically, I was trying to trim and thin the row of deciduous shurbs along the fence (I don’t even know what kind of shrubs they are). My tools? Pruners, an electric bush trimmer and (drumroll, please)…a genuine Milwaukee Saws-All.

Yep. More power pruning.

I took out as much as was left – all either dead, dying or not a bush (emerging trees). One such tree I took out has, with a quick count, 13 years of rings. A fruit tree (crabapple – Malus something or other). Yep, it’s been growing there for over a dozen years.

Hopefully I won’t let it get that bad again anytime soon…