Winter arrived overnight.

We went from a high of 60 degrees F yesterday to an expected high of 39 today . And even that's not really accurate. With the wind chill factor - it's howling today - it feels ten degrees colder.

It's a good thing, then, that I found a guy with a saw to start working on my 'volunteer' tree situation before the temps dropped so drastically. I actually had him start with a side of the house y'all have never seen before. This is the east side and it's obviously in need of some attention. 'Buzzsaw Bill' got into it so fast, he had the first tree down before I got a picture of the entire mess. (Yes, it was worse.) You can see the remnant sticking up near the back corner of the house.

This one had two trunks and was easily taller than the house. It's another black walnut, which is not only a very hard wood, it leaks sap like crazy when cut. The sap was messing with the saw blade, too. You can see a small dark spot on the left trunk where the friction was causing enough heat to burn the wood.

Even so, he took the stumps down further. I'll be drilling out a hole in the tops and filling them with epsom salts. From what I've read, that will draw out all the moisture and basically dry-rot the remains from the inside out. Beats the hell out of digging 'em up!

Oh, and will you look at that... more ragtag supplies! Score! I thought hubby had stashed those 4x4s in the shed. Silly me. Luckily, they're still plenty solid. I'm sure I can find a good use for them.

Part of the reason this patch was ignored was due to the fact that it's mostly rose bushes. The previous owner was nuts about roses and now I get to deal with consequences. You can see the rose hips scattered in the tangle. Thankfully, Buzzsaw had some sturdy gloves and made short work of this mess.

This is the first tree that Buzzsaw did. As you can see, it had to come down piecemeal to make sure the attic window didn't get broken. Those pieces are heavier than they look because the wood is so dense.

Once the trees were down, the roses and intermingled weeds were easier to access. I now have a new brush pile to sort through. The little stuff will be burned next spring. I'll probably limb a few of the longer trunks. I can burn the branches, but the trunks are straight enough, they might make good supports for something like beans. I'll have to seal any cuts beforehand though, because black walnut trees have a toxic effect on nearby plants.