Timber!

Unfortunately, we recently had to take down a large fir* tree. Birds had been drilling into it to the point that the whole middle of the tree was dead. I wonder if it was the same birds that liked to roost in the top of the tree? I guess we'll never know.

Anyway, the tree guy, Sonny, was amazing. The fir was close to Ward's shop, our new fence, and the neighbor's new garage. A tricky business for a 40' tree, but he didn't even brush a branch on any of those things. Tree felling is a very dangerous and skilled job. While the job was expensive, I think he earned every penny of it. Here are some pictures from the day.

This is the back corner of our lot where 3 lots come together. You can see that Sonny and his helper have to work in close quarters.

After throwing a rope (with a weight) over a tall branch, Sonny suited up with his safety and cutting gear and started climbing.

He cut the branches off one by one as he climbed.

Sonny looped the rope around the branch he was cutting, while his helper on the ground held the rope taut and helped control where the branch fell.

They continued with this until the top of the tree was small enough to be cut with its branches.

Sonny then went back down the trunk, cutting ~3' sections at a time until he reached the base.

The trunk was about 30" across at its base, so they had to cut it into pieces before they could carry it back to their truck.

They chipped what they could and hauled the rest away for a bigger chipper. Later that day, he came back and ground the stump.

I was sad to see the tree go, but with the new sunlight, I'm already thinking about what things we might be able to grow in this spot. However, it's going to take some cleanup of wood chips and roots before it will be ready for planting. But I will be dreaming about it until then. 😀

Until next time...

*Ward and I aren't very good at identifying the different kinds of evergreens. I thought the tree was a spruce, and he thought it was a pine. Its pine cones suggest it was a fir, according to Google. 

Note: Thanks to Ward for taking these pictures. He was very fascinated by the process and also took several videos. However, I couldn't figure out how to embed them. I thought I was following instructions, but had no luck.

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.)