Goodbye Old Tree

The big maple in the backyard has been looking pretty unhealthy lately. Jason finally convinced me that it was time to cut it down, before the already weak wood became unclimbable, or before it fell onto someone's house. So yesterday, on a beautiful February spring day, Jason's two good friends Dave and Scott came to remove the tree.

Below are some "before pics" to give a scope for its size & how close it was to the surrounding houses.



Jason took the initial turn climbing the tree. You can see him below removing one of the huge "lower" branches (funny that this guy used to be afraid of heights).


After lunch it was Dave's turn to climb. The below sequence shows him rigging his ropes, action shot of the branch falling away, branch being lowered by pulley to the ground by Scott and Jason, and Jason cutting the limb into sections for Scott and me to haul away.






Finally, only the upper-most section of canopy remained. Below is Dave prepping for the final cut, and view from front yard after the cut was complete... Flawless Victory!! No fences, homes, or persons damaged!



Turned out it was a good thing we took down the tree. The core and many of the limbs were starting to rot out. On the bright side, the tree had a rot pattern called spalting that is apparently coveted by wood workers - Google some images of things made from spalted wood & it's obvious why. Very cool gray/blue splotches on the wood surrounded by dark lines.




Finally, some "After-pics" of the house with no tree.





Although the removal was a success, it was still a sad day for Katy (and maybe Jason a little too). Instead of having a beautiful view of nature (autumn leaves, birds, and don't forget the squirrels!) when sitting on the deck or looking out the back windows, we now have an unobscured view of the back of our neighbor's house (which I'm sorry to say is not particularly pretty). Plus, taking down a tree that has graced the neighborhood for 50+ years seems so sad - not something that can just be replaced overnight. However, I suppose it had to be done.

I must say I was very impressed by the handiwork of Dave and Jason. I hadn't seen them in action taking apart trees with this method during their Bettica Services years, & I didn't give their work enough credit before... maybe it wasn't so laughable they had their own tree removal business(though I'm glad the company is no longer - this is dangerous business).

A HUGE thanks to both Dave & Scott for their help.