I’m stuck

As I previously mentioned, I had a branch system break off one of my pecan trees two weeks ago.  I called one lanscaping service to come give me a quote for getting it on the ground where I can cut it up for firewood, but the guy called me back to say that he’d had someone quit on him, he was overcommitted now with the jobs on hand, and wouldn’t do it.  (Besides, he wanted $135 an hour for a crew of three men.  That’s not an unreasonable number of people for the job, but it’s more than I can afford.)  Meantime the limb is still lying there, blocking the front walk and bisecting the yard.

So for those of you who are local:  do you know friends (or are you) handy enough to come over and help me deal with this mess?  I have an extension ladder but don’t know whether I can find someplace to prop it securely, I don’t have a good chain saw, and I probably need people to haul on ropes and control it while it’s cut off the tree.  Even more so, I need somebodies to help me get down a branch on one of the back yard trees, 15 feet up or so, that overhangs my neighbor/landlord’s yard, which he’s cutting up about ’cos he’s afraid it’ll come down one day and knock a hole in the roof of his rental house.  He’s already tried to sic the city on me without success; they told him it was on private property and hence none of their business.  (The city’s inspector gave me a courtesy call to warn me that trouble was on the way, for which I thanked him.)  He also wanted to send his cousins over to perch in my tree and cut it off, which I wouldn’t let him do because of liability worries.  Neither my insurance company nor I would ever hear the end of it if one of his cousins fell out of my tree and killed himself.

Anyone in Austin?  Anyone??  Bueller???