Silly Trees

So I came dangerously close to winning myself a Darwin award today. There are trees in my yard that have decided to take over with their obnoxiously enormous limbs and leaves, thus blocking out sunlight and devastating my garden. I went to such great pains to start most of the plants by seed, and all that remains are a few piddly onions, and about 7 dwarfish tomatoes that refuse to turn red. But I digress... My father and I decided it was time to wage war on the trees. We first attacked the giant maple in the yard, that is dying a slow and painful death anyway. First, I got out the extension ladder.... only to discover that I was not able to "safely" place it in a spot where I could get to the limbs marked for death. After a few attempts, I realized it was hopeless. But oh no! I was not to be deterred. Like MacGyver, I came up with a new plan, involving some wire cord, a trowel, and brute force. I used the trowel as a weight, and swung said cord like a lasso to capture the moribund limbs, and then dad and I used brute force to yank the bastards from the tree. The most gratifying part is, it actually worked! There was one unfortunate moment, however, when the head of the trowel parted company with the handle mid swing... and went shooting off into the bushes like some sort of maniacal gardening missile, nearly decapitating my cat who was an innocent bystander at the time. However.... I still have some LIVE limbs in the yard that need surgical intervention... I think its time to call my brother in to do the grunt work.