Trimming the Tree (Not the Christmas Tree!)

We have a huge tree in our yard...it was big when we moved in in 2005, but it just keeps getting bigger!  Last winter the branches were so long and weighed down with snow that the lower branches touched the sidewalk!  Sooo...before winter hits again we thought we better work on trimming the tree.  I wish I had thought to take a "before" picture.  The branches were hanging over the roof.  Dave trimmed those...

then he started working on the lower ones that were hanging all the way to the mailboxes (we've gotten in trouble from the postal service for that before)...

As we trimmed we made a big pile in the driveway (this was only about 1/2 of what we cut!)...

Dave just kept trimming and trimming...

We filled our "greenwaste" can and still have a big pile in the driveway that we need to cut up and put in the can...hopefully the branches are short enough now that we won't be walking into them after it snows like we did last year!

The day that the first can of "greenwaste" was picked up, we got a notice from the city that we were in violation because we had larger (cut up) branches in our can, which apparently have to go to the landfill instead of to the greenwaste site.  If we violate again they have threatened to take away our greenwaste can!  Seriously!!!  What are tree branches if not GREENWASTE???