When I started the field note series I would not have imagined that one of the posts would be about “wind” but I have had an intense last 7 days thanks to the wind in Cercedilla and not for the first time so I thought it is a legitimate post from the field.
Last Monday (February 16th), as we can witness in the picture above, there were burst of winds (“Racha”) up tp 91 km/h (56 mph). I got a call from a kind neighbor (thanks Fernando!) to let me know a tree from my property had fallen and was resting on the communities telecommunication cables (fortunately not electric):
Read on for all the fun that ensued and for last years wind problems as well!
Initial assessment
I got the call as the sun was setting so we agreed that little could be done that day (Monday), so I got up early on Tuesday and was in Cercedilla at 08:00 do an initial assessment. It was clear that there were some thick branches to deal with but the majority were pretty thin, so I figured I could put a reciprocating saw that I had recently purchased to use and see what it was capable of as I had actually gotten it to deal with some invasive trees that did not have really think trunks. I also had a pretty big bow saw that I figured I would have to use on the thicker branches.
I laid out my two step plan of attack to my dad via whatsapp:
Getting busy
So I changed into my work clothes that my wife loves so much (vietnam era army fatigues + beloved long sleeve black tee shirt from 2001 Bean Hollow Beach Blues and Bayou Fete that was put into work service after the collar blew out back in 2010 and now all these years later is still going strong, but with lots of paint stains) and began cutting branches with my reciprocating saw. By 12:30 (with some breaks to attend pesky work meetings) I had gotten everything cleaned up but the two (thicker) branches that were supporting the weight on the cables. Here I made a tactical error and fortunately for personal safety my saw blade got stuck:
Neighbor comes to the rescue with big guns
So as I was scratching my head trying to figure out how to release my saw blade when a neighbor who I had never met, Clemente, walked by. He said he had a chainsaw that would make quick work of the problem. I am normally a “do it on my own and never ask for help” type of guy, but I was tired and realizing that even if I freed the reciprocating saw blade, I did not have the right tools for the job, so I told him that would be amazing. He said cool no problem. He had to change and do something but would be back in 20 minutes or so. Wow. That is how unknown neighbors in Cercedilla are! He said in the meantime I should tie down the wires as once we cut what was supporting them, they would fly up and could be dangerous, and that was the previously foreshowed way that my safety was saved by the stuck saw blade and a smart neighbor.
And quick work it was with a chains saw! The timestamp on this photo is 13:13 so I think that in less than 15 minutes Clemente had resolved the issue of the trapped wires and trunk extending to the community area:
He offered to keep going or even let me use his chainsaw to finish the rest, but I told him that on one hand he had already saved my bacon and I could not abuse his kindness any further, and on the other hand it was clear I needed a big gun of my own and the rest would be a great learning project. He said he liked my attitude and recommended a store in the next town over that had good prices on Stihl chainsaws that were very reliable and good tools.
So with the initial urgency resolved, I headed back to Madrid to make up the lost hours of work leaving a large pile of branches on my side of the wall:
Cleanup
So on Friday after work I was back in Cercedilla and determined to at least deal with all the branches. I had made a purchase, but not a big gun yet as the recommend place is only opened in the morning, so I had to wait until Saturday. The purchase I made was of a pair of compound loppers that cut through branches like butter:
So I began by pulling out a branch, cutting into small two foot lengths and throwing it in a bucket. Then when the bucket was full, I hauled it up to the community trash container and emptied it (sorry no photos of this process). After about 4 bucket loads I saw a few problems with this plan of attack:
- The community trash container was nearly full
- The whole chopping into smaller parts, although fun because the compound lobbers cut through them like butter, was time consuming
- The pile was not getting any smaller
So one good thing about having worked in IT for so long is that I am good at recognizing when things are not working out and have no problem admitting failure, making a pivot and changing the plan of attack.
The new plan of attack involved converting my VW into a pickup truck:
This new process was optimized in all sorts of ways:
- just started throwing branches over the wall onto the sidewalk
- once I had more or less what I thought I could manage, I grabbed them by the end and began dragging up the stairs. Did not even have to grab the end of all of them as lots of them just got dragged up as they were tangled with the others
- once at pickup truck, err I mean Volkswagen, I began stuffing them in end first and was able to get a real high density
- I then took them to the local waste repository and pulled pretty much all of them out at once as they were all tangled together
Please note before trying this at home: The said Volkswagen has been discussed here previously in the blog as any day now Madrid will force me not to use it anymore so as you can imagine, I have no problem accepting any of the cosmetic damages that it may suffer stuffing it to the gills with pokey branches and turning it into a pickup truck.
As with everything in Cercedilla, even the waste disposal site has amazing views of the Seven Peaks:
Here you can appreciate the lack of advancement with process v1.0 and then the major advancements achieved with process 2.0:
Manning up and getting a chainsaw
So previously I mentioned that I had gotten a reciprocating saw to take care of some invasive trees. Seeing how we are being all honest like, I will spill the beans: I really had thought about getting a chainsaw for that, but kinda decided against it as I was too afraid of a chainsaw (could be secondary effects of 29 years of marriage to a risk analyst). I have never used one and just had too much respect for the tool. But after seeing what Clemente had done in 15 minutes I was determined to get over my fear (retraining at all times the respect) of a chainsaw. So all week I watched youtube videos on chainsaw safety and learned all about:
- Kickback: Kickback may occur when the moving saw chain near the upper quadrant of the bar nose. When this occurs, the energy driving the saw chain can create a force that moves
the chain saw in a direction opposite to the saw chain movement at the point where the saw chain is slowed or stopped. This may fling the bar up and back in a lightning fast reaction mainly in
the plane of the bar and can cause severe or fatal injury to the operator contacts a solid object or is pinched. - Pull-in: Pull-in occurs when the saw chain on the bottom of the bar is suddenly stopped
when it is pinched, caught or encounters a foreign object in the wood. The reaction of the saw chain pulls the chain saw forward and may cause the operator to lose control. Pull-in frequently occurs when the bumper spike of the chain saw is not held securely against the tree or limb
and when the saw chain is not rotating at full speed before it contacts the wood. - Pushback: Pushback occurs when the saw chain on the top of the bar is suddenly stopped
when it is pinched, caught or encounters a foreign object in the wood. The reaction of the saw chain may drive the chain saw rapidly straight back toward the operator and may cause loss of
chain saw control, which, in turn, may cause serious or fatal injury. Pushback frequently occurs when the top of the bar is used for cutting.
and all sorts of hints on how to handel a chainsaw.
So bright and early on Saturday morning I went to Mejardin in the next town over (Becerril de la Sierra) that had a large selection of equipment:
I had already pretty much decided to go with an electric chainsaw as:
- I already have a 50 meter power cable that was purchased to power the blower a bouncy castle for one of my daughter’s birthday parties
- There was no way I was going with battery powered as that is planned obsolesce and never having a charge when you need it.
- Gas is just an additional pain
And the nice person patiently attending my questions confirmed that really the electric had the same power as a gas one at aS third of the cost, so that just confirmed my desire for an electric and I opted for the STIHL MSE 210 that at 409€ was a bit more than I had anticipated spending, but met my other hard stop requirement of not being built in China (built in Germany):
So back to the cabin I went with my new big gun!
Putting new chainsaw into action!
I have to admit that the first cuts I was terrified. Very concerned about pull-in, pushback, and most importantly kickback. I avoided and made sure nothing ever touched the upper top part of the device:
But in the end, being in the moment, being highly aware of what I was doing, and focusing on the task things went very well.
I was quickly able to get the main trunk off the wall and remove anything that might have been protruding into the community area:
Making lemonade out of lemons
So I would love to take credit, but my wife and mother in law are due all the credit of the idea of making use of the trunk, I was just the implementor who was constantly fearing pull-in, pushback, and most importantly kickback:
and as my dad said, the chainsaw has already paid for itself!
Cleanup
So after a full week from the initial call on Monday the 23rd of February I was finally able to get things squared away (I love how many nautical references we have in American english, an homage to our maritime origins):
I had overcome my chainsaw fear (but still have my respect), was sore everywhere, had pushed my comfort zone farther out, and most important, I now had a chainsaw and kinda knew how to use it!
Closing and 2024 wind problems
As I mentioned in the opening, our first winter in Cercedilla had already introduced us to the hazards of high winds with two incidents:
- 30/01/2025 There were winds with bursts up to 100 km/h that ripped off part of the roof
- insurance put up a wall of slug and claimed “lack of maintenance” so we ended up fixing it ourselves out of pocket
- With the incident in 2026 they said we only had coverage of contents of the house, not the property. Very fortunate that this tree did not squash any neighbor when it fell, otherwise i doubt I would have been solvent enough to pony up for my new big gun. Needless to say we are shopping for new insurance.
- Do not remember when this happened and have not photographic evidence but one time when we arrived we found that the bbq had been blown off the back porch despite the fact the wheel breaks were locked and was all bent out of shape. I now chain it to the wall.
So fingers crossed I never have to update the Cercedilla Field Note with more wind incidents but given the two year running record I fear that is wishful thinking!
Links, References and things that helped with this
Thanks for reading and feel free to give feedback or comments via email (andrew@jupiterstation.net).