If you give Dad/Paco a sharp blade...

Dad/Larry/Paco bought himself a wicked sharp pruning saw recently, shown here with a gizmo that guarantees to polish scratched-up headlights. Not sure why it's in the photo, other than that he bought them both on the same day. On with the story. 

The pruning saw folds up like a pocket knife, which is pretty slick. The teeth are indeed "razor sharp", as noted on the label, and I'll get to that soon enough. The most interesting thing about the saw is that it is made by Fiskars, which I strongly associate with the many pairs of Fiskars scissors I have owned over the years, purchased almost always to use for cutting fabric. Yes, I used to sew. Everything. But that's a thing of the past, and once again, on with the story.

My friend LaVonne, who is a Master Gardener (by virtue of having taken many, many Master Gardener courses from the U of MN Extension Services) is helping us improve the appearance of our back yard vegetation-wise. She's amazing. She took a look at the magnolia bush/tree outside the sunroom, and with a sweep upward of both of her hands, said quite firmly and authoritatively, "Limb it!" 

Dad/Larry has trouble hacking away at trees and bushes, not for any physical reason, but because he likes lots of green. But give a guy a razor-sharp blade, and suddenly limbs and leaves are flying everywhere.

It was hard to get a worthy angles of the bush/tree as it looks after being pruned, and we're not sure it's done yet, but it's neater and tidier now. We'll decide later, after it "rests", if more should go. Actually, if LaVonne sees it and says another limb has gotta go, it's gotta go!