My Husband the Amateur Arborist

We've been doing a lot of yard work this year. After cutting down an oak which was dying, Bernie was able to use the same tree men with their boom truck to reach 50' into the top of another of our oak trees. This tree had been struck by lightning a number of years ago and is in fragile condition. For several years Bernie has been planning how he can brace the branches of this tree by chaining them together. It took him a long time to do his calculations, gather the materials and then accomplish the long awaited task! The tree men would not do the work because of liability issues, so Bernie did it himself. He is in the gray sweatshirt leaning over the edge of the basket. At this point he is putting the nuts onto the bolt which has been drilled through the entire huge branch. He ended up with a tri-brace chain situation that was totally amazing to the tree guys and to myself as I watched him accomplish this task. He had to brace three branches with the drilling and bolting process. I was terrified as I watched him leaning so far over the basket while so far off the ground. But I also know how careful he is. We both had a sense of tremendous satisfaction after it was over.