Cutting Trees
By DE
@DaddyEvil (153896)
United States
July 19, 2025 2:24pm CST
Last fall the landlady hired a guy to come cut down several black walnut trees in our yard. (They were growing too close to the house and were likely to cause damage to the shingles/roof before too much longer.) We were happy to see them gone.
Black walnuts make a mess in the fall. They drop the walnuts and if you don't get them all picked up, the lawnmower might catch one or more of them and throw them like missiles. They can break glass and dent cars. Any you and the lawnmower miss will also sprout the next spring and they're a pain in the tush to pull up.
I haven't been able to get out and pull them up. I tried and it made my sciatic nerve scream at me... Now, they're getting way too big to be pulled up. I have a chain saw but still can't get out and cut them down.
About an hour ago the older couple next-door sent one of their sons over to ask if we wanted him to cut them down for us. We happily told him "Yes, please!" Then Pretty asked him how much he'd charge to cut them down... He looked at her for a minute and said "Ten bucks?"
We don't think he was going to charge us anything to cut them down... 
Pretty just wrote him a check for $20 and told him thanks... They're really good neighbors!
Photo is not mine. Black walnut sapling.
Pretty just wrote him a check for $20 and told him thanks... They're really good neighbors!
Photo is not mine. Black walnut sapling.18 people like this
18 responses
@DaddyEvil (153896)
• United States
7h
True! That's the neighbor that has helped us with different things since we moved in here and we've helped them with stuff, too. I can't ever remember their names, but we do like them.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (358903)
• Rockingham, Australia
6h
@DaddyEvil It's so nice to have kind neighbours. Even if you don't see a lot of them, you sort of know they'd help in an emergency.
1 person likes this
@DaddyEvil (153896)
• United States
6h
@JudyEv We normally don't want to ask for help... If they didn't offer, we'd muddle through on our own. If we notice those neighbors need help, we offer our help... We don't even talk to anyone else living on our street. (We don't even know the older couple's names. But they don't know our names, either.
)
It always seems odd to me that you know your neighbors names and stuff about them... I couldn't tell you anything about any of the other neighbors down our street.
)
It always seems odd to me that you know your neighbors names and stuff about them... I couldn't tell you anything about any of the other neighbors down our street.2 people like this
@Traceyjayne (3326)
• United Kingdom
16h
Shame you had to pay but at least he did the job, and you needed it doing. There is a walnut tree in the garden behind ours….apart from the obvious….black….how are they different to regular walnuts….?
2 people like this
@Traceyjayne (3326)
• United Kingdom
2h
@DaddyEvil thanks for the info …that’s what I love about this site ….you share info from each others countries, whether it be food, customs, or just every day life.
1 person likes this
@DaddyEvil (153896)
• United States
2h
@Traceyjayne You're very welcome.
I like that about myLot, too. Sometimes I laugh at the responses I get but I love talking with people all over the world. 
@GardenGerty (164837)
• United States
13h
I need a neighbor like that. Bob wants to keep the black walnut trees, I do not. I have not learned to run a chain saw. We have more than one. It is a constant batttle with mother nature.
2 people like this
@DaddyEvil (153896)
• United States
7h
Chainsaws are easy... Make sure you have oil in the oil chamber for the chain, watch a YT video about sharpening the chain, make sure you don't get the blade near anything you don't want to cut, like your own hands or legs and make sure you keep it on the ground while starting it. There are a lot of good how-to videos that explain HOW to cut trees down so you don't drop them on your house or car.
@DaddyEvil (153896)
• United States
7h
We still need to drag the trees to the edge of the street so the city can haul them away. I'll see how much of that I can do before the sciatica starts screaming this morning... Pretty can haul whatever I can't to the street.
We put some of the storm downed limbs at the edge of the street last spring and a cop came and told me to move them out of the street or he'd write me a ticket... I dared him to write a ticket and then pointed out that everybody else could park their vehicles along the street and the limbs weren't as wide as the vehicles AND, the neighbor across the street had a HUGE pile of limbs and yard waste piled on the street in front of his house since last fall... He looked at me and said "You'd probably sue me if I wrote a ticket for that anyway." I just grinned at him... He walked away. Stupid cop!
They can't treat one person differently than everyone else... I might not have sued but I would have raised a stink with his commanding officer and the mayor in town if he wrote me a ticket!
1 person likes this
@wolfgirl569 (119551)
• Marion, Ohio
7m
@DaddyEvil Just take your time moving them.
That cop needed to be reported.
@DaddyEvil (153896)
• United States
7h
Cecil also sounds like a good name for a walnut tree, in my opinion.
1 person likes this
@sallypup (65297)
• Centralia, Washington
56m
@DaddyEvil Cecil is good. Ed reminds me of Eddie Haskell.
@sw8sincere (5877)
• Philippines
13h
Sounds like you're lucky to have the kind of neighbors who look out for one another. That kind of connection is rare and something to be truly grateful for.
2 people like this
@DaddyEvil (153896)
• United States
7h
We help them out when they need it and they help us when we need it. We don't really even talk to any of the other people on our street.
@snowy22315 (193084)
• United States
18h
Pretty is on top of it, Can you salvage any of the nuts? You can make stuff with them although they are freqiously hard to crakd.
1 person likes this
@DaddyEvil (153896)
• United States
18h
I could make stuff with the nut meats but neither one of us really like black walnuts. We always sold them before but I don't have a pickup anymore so we'd have to pay somebody to haul them to the huller here in town.
2 people like this
@snowy22315 (193084)
• United States
17h
@DaddyEvil Opeeing them is the hardest part. There is a battlefield near here that has tons of them, but I am afraid it is against the law to pick them. That and the fact t to open puts me off of them.
2 people like this
@DaddyEvil (153896)
• United States
7h
@snowy22315 Does the city pick them up and sell them? It doesn't make sense that it would be against the law to pick up walnuts... I wonder why they made that a law there? Weird!
@DaddyEvil (153896)
• United States
7h
Yes, that's possible. There are a lot of foods you can add black walnuts to that people here LOVE to eat. Pretty and I don't like black walnuts cooked in our foods. Normally, we pick them up and sell them to a huller (someone who runs them through a machine to remove the thick husk from the walnut and they then buy the nuts from you. But I don't have a truck anymore to haul them to the huller.)
@crossbones27 (50957)
• Mojave, California
17h
Probably just the gas money, do not see that much anymore. You are lucky to have such a good neighbor. He could have ulterior motives, like do not want that sucker falling in my yard. Win win for everyone, shut up and take it. 
2 people like this
@DaddyEvil (153896)
• United States
7h
His parents have a huge walnut tree in their yard. We normally pick theirs up when we clean them out of our yard. Last year we dumped the walnuts in the culvert at the end of our yards so the squirrels could still get them. I just can't bend over to pick them up without risking falling anymore and Pretty doesn't like working in the yard. 
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (76848)
• United States
10h
My neighbor started cutting my grass one year ago…never asked for money. Of course, I make sure he gets a nice Christmas present $$$.
1 person likes this
@DaddyEvil (153896)
• United States
7h
The older neighbor has been cutting the grass in our back yard for a year and wouldn't take any money for doing it. His riding mower broke down a couple of months ago and we came into extra money so we gave him $200... We didn't know until a few days later that his wife had gotten cancer between her toes so can't work now... She was the one who earned their money... He does get Social Security but it just pays for his meds and gives him "hobby money".
@RasmaSandra (87079)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
16h
Glad you got someone to cut the trees,
2 people like this
@Marilynda1225 (85416)
• United States
17h
Wow that was nice that you got those walnut trees cut down. Even though you didn't expect to pay anything $20 sounds like a bargain to me. I didn't know that walnut trees could cause so much trouble.
2 people like this
@DaddyEvil (153896)
• United States
7h
As long as you have kids or someone else willing and able to pick them up, it's not a big deal but I just can't do that anymore and Pretty HATES working in the yard... She'll only do yard work if I gripe and gripe until she gets tired of listening to me and goes out and does whatever needs doing... I don't like to gripe at her so keep trying to do things myself and end up getting hurt.
@garymarsh6 (23498)
• United Kingdom
3h
How lucky to have great neighbours help out. It was well worth $20. My wife planted a wisteria whech went wild over the past 3 weeks. I groaned when I came back & have cut it back a bit. I would like to prune it right back but she won't allow it. I do do it when she is a sleep sometimes! 
1 person likes this
@DaddyEvil (153896)
• United States
3h
Yes, we're very lucky... We would have paid more than the $20 if he'd asked for more... It needed done and I can't do it right now.
You could always say you "slipped" and cut off more than intended.
You could always say you "slipped" and cut off more than intended. 1 person likes this
@garymarsh6 (23498)
• United Kingdom
2h
@DaddyEvil Haha good one I never thought of that!
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (195107)
• United States
4h
At our last house my husband planted a bunch of black walnut trees. He had planned on selling the wood. That was nice of your neighbor.
1 person likes this
@DaddyEvil (153896)
• United States
4h
People buy black walnut trees here, too, but they want trees several years old and these just sprouted this spring.
Yes, it was very nice of him. Pretty and I will go out later and drag the trees to the street for the city cleaners to take them away.
@rsa101 (39164)
• Philippines
12h
Oh wow, I totally feel you on the sciatica—I deal with it too, and thankfully it’s not flaring up for me right now. But I know how just one wrong move can make it scream. Good thing your neighbors stepped in when they did! That kind of help really means a lot, especially when your body just won’t cooperate. So glad you didn’t have to push through the pain—and what a thoughtful young man to offer like that!
1 person likes this
@DaddyEvil (153896)
• United States
6h
I think his parents told him to offer but we were happy to get the help, no matter how he came to offer.
And yes, I can just be washing dishes at the sink and almost fall down from the pain.
I'm glad yours isn't flaring up right now. I hope you don't keep having sciatica pain.
@id_peace (15924)
• Singapore
12h
Can these walnuts be eaten? In my country, no one can engage a tree cutter without a permit from my government. We can only engage the tree cutter based on the list in their site. No trees can be cut without a proper reason and areas in the public, trees had been trimmed to ensure that no heavy branches will fall on people during the storm.
1 person likes this
@aninditasen (17316)
• Raurkela, India
Just now
They are very helpful that you have. I have very mean neighbours who are always up to some kind of mischief.
