"You keep talkin' to the big fella upstairs, I'll deal to your trees"

Trees
At our house we have an acre of ground. There is the house section with lawns, apple and plum trees. Then you can walk down the back path through to the vegetable garden where we have a hen house, pear and apple trees and garden plots, then an open paddock. There are sheds where we house garden tools and other stuff. Up against those sheds on the border between house area and vege garden there were four big trees, a twisted eucalyptus and three fir trees, growing quite high. They had got to the stage of shading us, the vege garden and our neighbour's section at different times in the spring and summer months. 

"The guys at the station ought to deal to those trees!"
When I was in hospital earlier this year a retired fire fighter called around at our house to see how I was. I am chaplain to the Dunedin fire fighters. As he was talking with my wife he looked down the back and exclaimed, "The guys at the station ought to deal to those bloody trees." He had been part of a group of fire fighters who years ago came and dropped two big trees for me. He rang a friend at the fire station, and he started the discussion with potential helpers. One fire fighter named Peter was quite well known to be an expert at dealing to trees and he was asked to look into it. Among other things he does at the fire station, he drives the "ladder", the fire pump that has a high rise turn table ladder on the back. I got a phone call one day from an officer to say the "ladder" was going to come out to look at the trees. Pete arrived with another firefighter, and they came around and looked thoughtfully at the trees. It would be a tricky job to drop them without them crashing into sheds, or henhouse. "We could do it Dave, we might make your chooks permanently free range though!" he joked. I said that I was not asking them to do it, that I could hire an arborist to do it. "It'll cost you thousands, we'll deal to it." A few weeks went by and he chatted about it on one of my visits at the fire station. He'd have to climb up them, and cut branches off, and maybe cut them down bit by bit. "I don't want anyone to get hurt doing this." I protested. "Nah Dave, I don't want to get hurt either, leave it to me." From then on every time I protested his standard response was, "You keep talkin' to the big fella upstairs, I'll deal to your trees. It'll be alright!" In due course he arranged to come out on a day off and begin the process of planning the trees' demise. He arrived and with ropes and chainsaw, climbed the trees, taking off some branches. He eventually swung over to the Eucalyptus tree and began to cut it down in pieces. At a certain stage I suggested that he could drop it in one piece, and that he did, dropping it into our backyard.  We both cut it up and at times during the next few rainy days, my wife and I transported the pieces to a place where they could be split up. 
The special day.
He then rang telling us he would be out with "a few mates" the next Wednesday to deal to the next three trees. "How many mates?" I asked, "we need to know how much lunch to provide." "Don't worry, we'll bring a barbecue, just make sure a kettle's boiling." On the Wednesday he arrived with some mates, and eventually during the day a total of about twelve of his fire fighter mates came. They had a wood splitter, chainsaws, ropes and harnesses. I repeated that I did not want anyone to get hurt, and Pete again responded with, "Just keep talkin' to the big fella upstairs an' we'll deal to the trees!" So they began. A group began the job of splitting the eucalyptus disks, while Pete and others trimmed branches off the first easiest of the trees, and readied it to be downed. It came down, and they descended upon it with chainsaws, and everything was transported to the splitting crew who stacked the split firewood. I joined in, really enjoying myself, pleased that these days I feel fit enough to work hard.  As fire fighters arrived they would yell out to Peter up the tree asking what they should do. His answer was, "Find a hole and fill it." This they did. It was a great feeling being part of this really motivated hard working group going about naturally, without fuss as a team. The last tree was the widest, the heaviest and in the most awkward position. Peter told me, "You know that they're putting sticks down where they think it will end up?" "Oh" I said. "At least one of them is on y'r house roof!" he continued with a grin.  Everyone stopped working to watch the last tree come down. Some had to leave to do "the school run", that is, pick up their kids from school. They delayed leaving till the last tree dropped. A young fire fighter who had tree felling experience was left to chainsaw it. He was nervous and checked with Peter several times. They had a "turfer" with a wire rope to pull on the tree to help it fall in the right direction. It came down with a big thump, and everyone clapped. There was relief that it had dropped safely, and the crews descended upon it to dissect it.  Pete stood on the tree like a conqueror, "I told you that if you kept talkin' to the big fella, I'd sort your trees! No worries!" he said triumphantly. "You were nervous and just as relieved as me!" I responded.

The last tree tumbles.

They kept working till they had to go back on night shift. Peter and a group were back the next day to complete the splitting and stacking before we finished with a special morning tea. I was a bit stiff and sore from hard heavy work, but I really enjoyed working with these  guys.  That sort of team work is part of their fire fighter culture. I thanked Pete and the guys for their effort. Quite a number came and shook my hand or gave me a thumbs up as they left. "Pay back Dave." Pete said, "You've done so much for us." He told me he had no trouble getting people to help when they knew it was for me. I felt deeply humbled and grateful.  While I have cut down a few trees in my life, I knew I could not do these ones. Pete was right, it would have cost me a few thousand dollars to pay an arborists to do it. The day had many humorous mini adventures. Pete's ute sank to its axles in the neigbour's paddock. A branch nearly smashed a shed roof. Peter, hanging on ropes in the tree, let out a loud string of expletives and we laughed wondering what the neighbours thought. There was "discussion" about how to stack wood. It was for me a special time I will always look back on with deep gratitude. I appreciated the job being done, but really enjoyed the friendship.