I recently removed a large spruce, inches away from the house. In fact the root mass had started to lift the porch, Many branches were over the house so roping was required. I had thought of putting my truck out in the distance and tying the end of a zip line to the hitch, and using a steel figure 8 in the tree for friction control so i could work solo. Downside is my truck would have been in the neighbors field and right next to a busy state rt.
I brought my wife in to "run rope." She did all she could and I give her credit for it. She used a porty for the anchor and I would take over from there with natty crotch from above as she took the rope out of the porty.
About half way up i lowered a fairly large branch which forked out a few feet from the cut. I did not leave any stubs but a large collar at a slight bend in the spar caught the fork. I pulled it up a bit and let it ride some to clear. At this point the end was stuffed in on the ground some and there she went .....
"Now what am I supposed to do with this?!?!" Previously she was grabbing the tips and pulling the branches away from the tree to keep the area clear for work as I lowered them. I can't trust her to run a saw without putting herself in harms way without supervision." I can't handle a branch like this laying on the ground!!! DON:T DO THIS TO ME AGAIN!''
I had to bite my tongue pretty hard as much as I wanted to bomb out of the tree and say f this. She dosen't know any better. God bless her heart, she did all she could.