Years ago our son went on a chainsaw course taught through BC Wildfire and the instructor left him with the impression that wearing the Kevlar type of chainsaw pants was mandatory when taking down trees. The instructor described that even he, as a qualified guy, had experienced the saw bucking back and slicing his leg. Jeans are not appropriate dress and chaps aren’t a perfect option either as he had been hit on the back of his thigh.

Our kids bought E Kevlar chainsaw pants that summer. There is a fibre in the material which, when contacted with the moving chain brings it to a complete stop. Along with those pants, E also wears steel toed boots, a hard hat, glasses and ear plugs when he heads out to drop trees.

We spent Mother’s day murdering three large fir trees and one small arbutus to make room for a potential bunkie. We still haven’t committed to actually starting the project this summer. We keep hemming and hawing. But when we do decide to begin, we will have the space cleared…

There is a professional tree faller on the island right now but I asked E if there would be any physical risk to him if he tried to take them down himself. I wanted to save the $1000.00 it would cost us to hire a professional but I am not heartless.

He said “not so much.” The trees might land wrong and maybe take out an extra tree or two by mistake but he, physically, “should” be fine. Two of the fir trees were seventy feet high. One was maybe fifty feet but it was curvey and stubborn. They all dropped where E intended. (or close enough). No unplanned damage.

We were left with a huge mess to clean up and a lot of wood to buck and get down to the wood pile ready for splitting. The cooler weather and rain which arrived this week will give us the opportunity to burn the debris and complete the process of getting the area tidy. I know what I’ll be doing for the next several days.

Where was I? Right, Kevlar pants. E’s are well worn. Probably the perfect gift from our kids for him. With what goes on living here, his need of them is constant. This week they proved their value in spades.

While E was bucking an arbutus the chainsaw bumped in the air and hit his thigh. The fibre in the pants brought the blade to a complete stop. His leg is none the worse for the incident but I can’t say the same

for the pants