Crab Apple trees no more :(

When we got back from our little jaunt, two trees in the front yard had died.  They were crab apple trees.  I thought that the only thing a crab apple was good for was throwing at someone.  The kids use to have a time throwing them at each other.  Then someone introduced me to crab apple jelly.  Mmmm  that is some good stuff.  But the crab apples on out trees were small and it took a lot of them.  It was just too much work.  I loved it when someone would come by and take all the crab apples and in a few days drop off jelly for me.  That was a pretty good deal to me.

Here is Ashlynn learning how to climb a tree in it.  It had the perfect spot to sit and rest.

 It took a lot of looking, but I found both trees.  The one on the left is the one Ashlynn climbed.  The one on the right is the other crab apple.

By the time I realized that Doug was out there pushing the trees over,  he had already taken down the "climbing tree".  (That's what Ashlynn called it)  They were so dead that they pushed over relatively easy.

 He just pushed them from one side and then another.  Over they went.  I thought it would have been a lot harder than that.

                                                 He knocked most of the dirt off the root.

And carried them to the burn pile.  He looked on the internet to see if crab apple wood was good for smoking meats.  What he found said it was a lot like apple wood.  He is going to cut up some small pieces and try it.

                                            They look like a big mess on the burn pile.

 It didn't leave to bad of a mess in the yard.  A lot neater than cutting them down and having to deal with a stump.

                The front yard without the two trees.  It looks so bare to me without them.

                   In case anyone was wondering, Buddy supervised from under some shade trees.

He doesn't like having his picture made.  He turns his head every time I point a camera at him.  You have to be quick and sneaky.  LOL