One Epic Battle

Over the weekend, as I sat in my backyard patio, enjoying my potted plants, my eyes wandered to the ever-over-growing pair of fan palms getting slightly out of hand underneath the amazing shade of my giant mesquite tree. They hadn't been trimmed since my father and mother came out in spring sometime, and they were in desperate need of a hack job. And so I spent the next hour and a half trimming my fan until you could underneath them. It was gorgeous, if I do say so myself.
But this little adventure in the morning heat of 108*, led to yet an even great battle that would ensue feet above the ground of my back yard. Again, my eyes wandered, but this time, their direction was straight up. I happened to notice some dead branches of mesquite wood on top of my tree, and soon after further inspection, I had come to the realization that my mesquite tree had come under the power of the Arizona monsoon.
Oh yea, a branch about 4 inches in diameter split and folded down into thick twigs and had begun to dry. And this was about 20 feet up in the air. Any one who knows me, can tell you I'm kinda the wuss for heights, but I wasn't about to back down. No way, this was my yard and I controlled its inhabitants. So I geared up with my corona hand saw and yard long corona loppers(which ended up being fairly useless against such dense wood), and climbed the tree. Not going to lie, leaning up against a branch with your feet on separate footings, and holding on to another branch your attempting to hack off, gets kinda hairy at that height.
I spent about another hour and a half just bringing down the dead part of the Mesquite tree, but after being up there for so long, I have come up with a new coif for this tree, and it is just a matter of time before the second stage of operation mesquite overhaul begins clipping away at the tree. It's Monday now and I have been spending much of the morning breaking down this dead wood into either clippings I could squeeze in our weekly trash bin, or into nice sized logs I could use for an eventual fire. I really look forward to this fire/possible BBQ as I know just how amazing this wood is! Because it is so dense, it burns longer and hotter, and for those grill masters out there... it adds that distinct mesquite flavor.