I'll say this, I hate mowing with a passion. It just seems so pointless and wasteful to me, but hey, if people are willing to pay for it, that's their deal. There are some things considered yard work I do like, but definitely not mowing. That's a good way to put it. When I do own a yard, I think I'd just rock the whole thing. That or find something useful to do with the grass, like convert it to usable energy or let something else eat it that I could then eat or somehow break it down for material to be used with 3D printing (I don't know if that's possible, but it sounds good :P) Try Tordon on those trees. Make sure to put it on a fresh cut before the cut starts drying out and healing. After a while (a year or two) the trunks in the fence might rot enough that you can just pull and break it off the fence (kind of depends how big the trees are and what type, I'm assuming they're small if it's a chain link fence.)

Be careful though too, if the trees are very close to other big trees that you want to keep and especially if they are the same species (these small trees could be part of the bigger trees root system), it could partially kill the bigger trees, maybe even kill them outright if you apply it very liberally. If a neighbors tree is too close, it'd be best to not take a chance of killing it.

I love mowing the lawn. It's like meditation.

Pulling weeds is a pain, but makes everything look better.

That's about the extent of it for me.

I'm thinking on one side it is part of another tree. Its one that should be taken down, but to be honest I don't have the money to pay for someone to do it, and I don't think its something I'm personally up for. The previous owner mentioned he had had so much trouble with things breaking off of it, that he was one problem away from cutting the thing down. A year after we moved in a third of the tree broke off into my neighbor's yard and I got attacked by bees trying to saw some of the larger branches down. They also attacked other people and several followed me into my house.

It was a blasted mess, and I don't think as highly of trees as I used to. I certainly think I have too many crowded together. There is even one at the rear of our property that started shedding its bark a couple of years ago, and I assume its a ticking time bomb. I'm starting to think its time to sell the blasted place, and get out before the place takes me.

Personally, I don't really mind yard work. I took over doing that when my father passed away when I was younger, and all in all it has been alright, despite the blazing hot Texas sun and humidity. The only thing I do dislike about it are the things I occasionally run into, primarily big spiders (have a phobia) and snakes. I could certainly live without those. Overall though, I find it oddly relaxing.

Oh, and if anyone knows a specific product that actually kills crab grass, please oh please tell me. Our front yard is still nice and normal, but crab grass took over the back yard, and no matter what, we can't stop it. I would do anything to have it looking like a proper lawn again.

Well, sometimes neighbors are willing to pay for half the removal if they want it out too. Just don't demand anything or that will probably just start a crazy feud.

I like trees with the caveat of "Don't plant the right tree in the wrong place and don't plant the wrong tree in the right place." Some trees are good yard trees, others good timber trees.

This. Only some trees make good neighbors.

Do you have a driveable lawnmower (ie. where you sit), or which you have to push around? I've never used a driveable model, maybe that would be fun.

Pushing a lawnmower around is not relaxing to me especially when I am afraid the blade hits some tree root or a big rock sticking out of the ground. I don't know if new lawnmowers have failsafe mechanisms for those, but the old ones I've always used just hit the root or stone with the blade at full force.

Maybe I also got a bit of trauma as a kid when I accidentally ran over a small frog with the lawnmower. Awwww...

The only time I've had fun mowing a lawn was when I was given a drivable mower and an enormous lawn to play with. Of course, it was no sports car when it comes to performance, but it could change direction like a rabbit caught in a car's headlights. Climbs eagerly, too. The only problem I had was the constant feeling that the thing is going to fall over any minute on uphills, canted strips and when I did U-turns at full speed.

Since you seem to know trees and all that I wanted to risk annoying you, and ask a quick question. We have one tree out back that has me a little worried. I think its some sort of maple tree, but that could just me pretending I know more about stuff than I do.

Anyway, I had been noticing the underside branches had no leaves on them and was assuming that they didn't get any significant light so that was probably just something that happens. After trying to remove some of them so I could walk underneath the tree again it appeared as thought they are all dried out as well. Looking up I'm starting to see dead branches all the way up, and thinking I may have a problem with it. Its a quite large and close enough to do some minor damage to the house if it falls.

There is a similar and much much larger version out front with maybe a few such branches but I don't think near as many. I was thinking of calling an Arborist to have a look around, but I kind hate to spend the money right now if I 'm just being paranoid. Does that sound like a reasonable course of action, or does that sound like normal tree stuff?

I used to work at a golf course, trust me, it gets old:)

A quick response for now as I've got a street dance and drinking to go to soon. Most of the work I do is for hire for tree services (I mostly do climbing and shit like that.) I have some tree knowledge but will admit that I'm not an master arborist. Trees shedding dead branches is normal, especially when they get shaded out like you suspected. It always turns out to be a lot more work than you think because most people don't ever have a need to really look closely. It's just a habit to not notice it.

If the bark is falling off, it's a dead giveaway that there is a problem that probably can't be reversed. If there are still mostly green branches, the tree might be fine, could just use a trimming to look better and keep dead branches from falling in your yard every time before you mow.

Most tree services will offer free estimates and some advice. My suggestion would be to find a known tree service that does this and see what advice you can get out of them. Don't try to act like you know more than they do though :) If they say it just needs to be trimmed, your tree is probably okay. You can try to find another tree service too to get a second opinion for comfort. They might want to do something like treat for bores or inject iron if it's a certain type of tree.

Trees can be great, but before you know it, they can be a huge headache too. If you want to attach a picture, I could maybe give a little advice. I don't know a lot about some of the trees outside my region though.

LOL. Yes, a riding mower is much better. A push mower is no fun, even if it pushes itself. Good exercise, though. :-)

Thank you for the advice. Other than that it looks OK. I probably won't bother you with a pic, and just keep an eye on it for any other weirdness. I would like to have someone out, but that may have to wait. I think we are going to try and sell the place and I need to get a few other issues address on a fairly limited budget. Including a little plumbing issue that decided yesterday was a good day to arrive. I think we have bad wire in the wall somewhere too which I'm excited about.

We have a neighbor across the street with maybe 1/8 acre to mow. The husband works / worked for a local country club as part of the grounds maintenance crew so he knows his stuff - beautiful lawn and all that. The wife gets on her kajillion-dollar zero-radius turbine-powered mower that's wider than my car and has the lawn done in about 14 seconds. Pretty funny to watch.