>>It's a shrewd man who buys a chain saw just in case he needs it some day. When I lived in Chicago we had a huge old oak tree in the back yard that was killed by a thunderstorm. We had to call a tree removal service and it cost a fortune.
>>
>>So why didn't you just go out and buy a chain saw instead?
>
>Because the tree was 40 feet tall and lying on top of the back porch and the roof?

So, chainsaw & a crane? ;)

We just had an old Modesto ash removed professionally. It had split into 4 pieces and was being held together by some "fancy" straps. The process took 2 days, the cleanup another and the minor repair to the pump house roof (oops) another. Then there was the cutting for firewood. That took another 10 days. ;)

I grew up with one of the oldest oak trees in N California in my back yard. 100+ ft high, 9 ft trunk diameter. When I was around 15 or so I was in my room when I heard what sounded like an explosion and fet the whole house shake. I went outside and saw that the oak had fallen. The debris field was massive. Back in the 50s the original house had burned to the ground & took about half of the oak with it. The tree experts who came out to look at the fallen, determined that the tree started to rot then. It took 40 years for it to finally succomb. Now that was a cleanup!