Thankful Sunday, June 13, 2021

 I am thankful for good service people. 

As you know, we lost a tree during a storm a couple of weeks ago. Luckily, through a recommendation of a neighbor (who also lost a tree at the same time), we hired a local tree service to remove the tree. They were prompt, efficient, and fairly priced. We will definitely use them again. So for a great tree guy to add to my list of service people,  I am thankful.

Here's what the tree work looked like.

The storm took down half of the tree and the rest of it was not long for this world, so we had the whole thing removed.

Tree Guy had his two sons helping him. First they cleaned up the fallen branches and chipped all of the debris with a large chipper.

Next, he cut all of the branches he could reach with a pole saw.

The Helpers cleared the area.

Then Tree Guy harnessed up to climb the tree. He had a chain saw tied to him for cutting the higher branches.

It takes a lot of skill to climb a tree with a chain saw safely.

Tree Guy was almost done with the climbing part of this job.

After watching from a safe distance, the Helpers were at work again.

Tree Guy then cut a notch for the final felling. 

The Helpers helped guide where the tree was going to fall. 

And it fell exactly where Tree Guy had planned. The trunk was 27" across.

Logs that were too heavy to lift (and chip), were loaded into the back of the truck with this handy little Bobcat-like machine (stand behind steer skid loader).

About a week later, Tree Guy came back and ground the stump.

Now, the final clean up is up to us. I wish The Helpers were here to help us move the dirt/sawdust to various low places in the yard. (The pile is much bigger than it appears in the picture.)

So Long.

Last week we had a storm come through that took down a large tree in our front yard.  The tree was a Bradford Pear and is know to have splitting problems because of the way the branches grow out of the trunk. But this one had beaten the odds. It was over 50' tall and the trunk had a circumference of 27". The good news is that it didn't hit anything and we were able to get it cleaned up before it killed the grass.

But I miss it. It was the one we saw out our kitchen window that provided a beautiful display of white blossoms in the spring and red and yellow leaves in the fall. It was the one we watched squirrels scamper up and down, and the one we watched birds hop from branch to branch. It was the one that a large flock of cedar wax-wings would land on in the spring to feast on the small fruit, and it was the one that provided interest and structure to our yard. 

 In the grand scheme of things, this was a minor inconvenience. But I miss it.

Timber--Part Two

Ward is guest blogger for today.


We recently had a diseased spruce and a diseased maple tree taken down. The tree company we hired came with a crew of nine and finished both trees in a little over an hour. They were impressive to watch. Below are highlights from their operations of taking down the maple tree. The spruce tree procedures were similar.

The maple tree had been killed by years of visits by sapsuckers. The sapsuckers would peck a ring of holes all around the trunk, about a quarter inch across, about half an inch apart. There were rings of holes all over the tree.

 

This was the telescoping pole chainsaw they used to cut the lower branches off the tree. It was about 12-14' long when extended. The blade was about 12" long.

This guy could whip the saw quite skillfully all over the place. As he worked his way around the tree, his coworkers would drag the branches away to the chipper.

Here is the chipper. It would take a long branch 15-20' in about 30 seconds. This was a very loud machine.

The tree was about 30' tall. They tied a rope to put tension away from the house, and used a big chain saw and cut the trunk. You can't see it here but he did cut a notch in the trunk on the side direction it was supposed to fall, and it did fall exactly where it was supposed to.

As soon as the tree was down, workers swarmed around the tree and started cutting and carrying away branches.

Others were working on the stump. The stump was about 12" in diameter and he cut it into pieces about 18" long. The chipper handled these large stump pieces easily. A little more heavy duty than the one in our shed.

While some were cutting and chipping, others were raking and carrying away small debris.

Once the stump was cut low to the ground, the man with the stump grinder started to grind the stump and roots. As you would expect, the spruce tree was much easier to grind than the maple.

They were a thorough crew. They even blew a little bit of saw dust from the pavement.

This was what was left when they were done.

Timber--Part One

Today we had a maple tree taken down that was dead because of a persistent sapsucker.  The crew we hired was amazing and the tree was reduced to a few wood chips in less than an hour. However, its memories will last much longer.

The maple tree was Theodore's tree. He spent much of his childhood there. It was the one he hid in when he didn't want us to find him. The one where he could go to be alone. The one where he found comfort when he he couldn't understand things. It was also the one to climb with Wally and his friends and the one to show off in. Ward and I liked the beauty of the tree and the shade it provided on hot summer days. However, it was Theodore's tree.

As a mother, I already miss Theodore's tree. I'm glad I have the memories.

Below is a poem that Theodore wrote about this maple tree when he was nine.

My Climbing Tree

Up in my tree,

I'm as happy as can be,

Without a care or a worry.

With leaves everywhere,

Twigs and branches in the air,

Up here, there is no hurry.

With wind on my face,

And astounding grace,

Up my tree I scurry.