A few days ago we had quite a wind storm during the night. When we woke up the next morning, we found that the wind had blown down a large (8" diam) branch from next to our neighbor's house and it fell right across the path. Although it made sort of a neat bridge, I wasn't sure how long the hinge attaching it to the trunk would last, so I got out my chain saw and cut it down. I cut off a section with lots of orchids for Deb and then chunked up the rest to burn. Since I had the chain saw out, I figured it was as good a time as any to cut down the tree that was partly blocking our view of the water. It was only ~10" at the base, but it did go 30-40' in the air. I couldn't really tell as the top was lost in the mango tree. That should have been my first clue. Planning my fell, I cut a good sized notch on the South side and then cut back from the North. With less than 1/2" left, it was still standing straight upright. I grabbed some branches and pulled. No go. I cut some wedges out of nisporo and started hammering them into the cut. Slowly the tree leaned as the wedges did their thing. Then the wedges burst through, the tree jumped and went straight down. Now about 4' shorter, it was still standing up straight as ever. OK, so I cut it off again. Same procedure - cut notch, back cut, wedges, hammer. This time the 5' section fell over and the tree just hung there swinging about 3-4" above its stump, firmly entrenched in the branches of the mango. Hmmm. I tied a long rope onto the base and got it swinging back and forth. It dropped a little. Enough that I could now get it to swing into the stump and hit it giving the tree a jolt. Finally on one strong swing, it slipped and fell driving the end into the ground. The top, however, was still in the mango. This tree it taller than I thought. The bottom is now at about a 30* slant however as it hit the ground on the end of one of its swings. OK, cut off 5 more feet and see what happens. Of course this time I have to cut up from underneath as it will bind if I cut from above. I finally lets go and with just a bit more swinging, the whole thing comes down. It must have been over 50' tall. Oh well, I cut up the tops for a burn pile (bon fire for Christmas or New Years) and cut up the rest for other projects. There is a real cool curved piece that I might be able to plane down for the stem of a kayak or sailboat. Deb harvested several more orchids. AND THE VIEW IS GREAT! Having done a good day's work, I retired to my rocking chair on the deck and enjoyed the view while sipping a mojito.