After years of discussion, we took the plunge and hired a team of men to take down first seven, and then another nine large trees from our yard. Most of the trees were diseased and indeed were hollow when dropped and cut up on the ground. Some healthy ones also had to go because they were extremely tall and located right up against the house.
I have resisted this for years and finally Larry realized that if this was going to get done, he would have to make the phone call. He most definitely called the right small business because these guys were FANTASTIC at what they did, hard working and affordably priced. They worked for a set price per hour which sounded steep until you factored in that four men with chain saws, a bucket truck, a massive stump grinder and a mulch maker ( tree branch chipper) came with.
This is the tree that I will miss the most. I have spent countless hours while sitting on the couch homeschooling the kids, watching the wide variety of birds that have called this tree their home. I have observed many birds in and around it through the kitchen window while washing dishes The birds are still confused because it is gone, and can be seen flying in the sky above this area looking for it.
From the front yard, the bucket can be seen way up in these very tall trees. This was no do-it-yourself job!
Every time it stormed, we had to go into the basement to avoid being killed if one of these trees uprooted and smashed through the roof. There are only so many "Divine Mercies" one should pray before also doing what can be done to help the situation!
This is one of the big dead ones.
This Hickory was hollow through the middle and stood with a hard lean toward the house. This firewood we will keep because of the beautiful aroma of hickory wood when burning, especially if you smell the smoke from outside. It is heavenly!
The men, who worked from 8-2:30 on both days that they were here, left all the wood cut into fireplace length logs. I was very impressed with their work ethic. Being paid by the hour, you would think that they would want to take their time and leave at 5 pm. Not at all. They worked very quickly, cutting 16 massive trees safely into logs in 13 hours total (over two days). In the past, we have paid more for one tree to be dropped then we paid these guys for a whole day.
Most of the wood we will give away. We just don't burn that much anymore, now that we have heat in the basement. A guy on dialysis and his family took a boatload of it and a recent widow at church is getting a whole lot more of it, which the boy scouts have started to cut for her.
As an unintended result of this project, we now have lots more LIGHT in the kitchen, mud room and garage.
Although I don't miss the big ugly dead trees, I really do miss the two pretty healthy ones that were just beyond the back deck. However, I am grateful that we made this decision and took the needed action to protect our family and our home from dangerous falling trees and limbs on windy and stormy days and nights.
