TIMBERRRRRRR

What with sidewalk construction out front and tree removal out back, it has been one NOISY summer.  Makes the noise of the kids playing Let’s Dance on the Wii seem quiet by comparison. 

One last look at the sweet gum tree before it comes down.  The backyard is going to seem empty and we sure will miss the shade.







That is one TALL tree!  See the branch hanging down on the right side of the tree?  That branch cracked a couple of days ago but had not yet fallen.

I gotta say, I have a whole new appreciation for the men who do this type of work.  Only one guy is the climber and he has to rig the ropes and tie them to the branches before he makes the cut with the chain saw that dangles from his belt.  He has to figure out which limbs to through the ropes over so that he can safely lower the cut ones to the ground.  He has to be able to know which ones to cut so that he still has enough limbs left to climb on and to attach the rigging ropes to.  He has to watch out for rot, and not climb where he’s going to go down with the branch.

Russ took most of the pictures and I love this one.  Looks like he’s about to cut off the limb he’s kneeling on!!  He was just cutting off some of the smaller branches.




The yellow arrow shows the climber high in the tree.  Kinda gives a perspective as to how tall that tree is.  One big tree doesn’t stand a chance against one small man!!




Here business owner Ben and his son, Jacob, carry a heavy chunk of limb.  It was strange – when I saw Ben I thought he looked familiar.  In talking with him, we found out his wife (at the time) Mary, used to work for me as a teller when I was in Operations at the bank.  Jacob and his sister Mariah were just little bitty kids.  Now Jacob has two kids of his own and Mariah is getting married this weekend.  Small world!


For us, and especially for Russ, it was another case of not wanting to let go.  He really didn’t want to cut down the tree but looking at the pile of wood and seeing some of the rot, makes us know we made the right decision.  It wasn’t all rotten but there was enough rot that I wouldn’t want to see that tree stay with us for another winter – just too scary.


This fella did a great job on wrangling that tree – a real branch buster!


It took two almost full days to get the tree down and almost an entire day to get the wood hauled off and the stump ground down and cleaned up.  I was a little shocked at the price tag at first but after seeing how hard they worked and what a great job they did, I don’t see how they did all this for under two grand.  They also took out a couple of small volunteer madrones that were getting out of hand in the front yard. 

So the tree is gone, the mess is cleaned up, and all we need to do is get the yard back into shape.  Here’s a before and after look.














 Here’s a video – three days condensed into 1M 47 Sec!!  I didn’t try to make it fancy, just some clips of the work in progress.


We’re glad it’s over and done with…even the garden  gnome is relieved!


Gotta go finish packing up Therapy…leaving early tomorrow morning.  Wish us luck – we’re out of practice!!