Monday, I said goodbye to an enormous pine tree. When I bought my house seven or eight years ago, the lowest branch of this particular pine was out of my reach. Over the years, though, the branch seemed to droop lower and lower.
I finally figured out what was going on. The tree was leaning farther and farther to the east (and closer and closer to the power lines). Not a good idea.
I called the tree service folks who have done work for me before, and they quoted $550. But then, before I scheduled anything, I mentioned this to a friend of mine, and she said, “If it’s leaning over the power line, called the electric company.”
I did. They checked it out. And today, they took down the tree. Cost to me:
- zero dollars
- one oak leaf hydrangea that had to bad luck to have been planted (by me) underneath the lopsided pine, but which will, I’m sure, recover nicely
- some good-sized gouges in the ground
- two and a half hours of looking upwards, which resulted in a kink in my neck.
All in all, not a bad price to pay.
Here's the truck all set up at the end of my driveway:
By this time the guy in the bucket had taken off all the lower branches and was ready to cut down the top:
Another view of the bucket work after the tree's top had been removed:
Once they got to the point where the truck was too large for the first saw, they changed to a chain saw. I managed to get this picture as the piece he'd just sawed off was falling to the ground.
Fortunately, I'd remembered to take down the bird nest on a pole nearby. The mama bird was a bit upset where her nesting box wasn't there (I'd put it on my front porch for safe-keeping), but she returned as soon as it was back in its place.
I didn't think I'd need to take down my bird feeder pole, though. I was far enough from the tree not to be in danger, right?
Let me tell you -- those logs can bounce when they hit the ground. This big one came within a couple of feet of my bird feeders. Yikes! No harm done, fortunately.
And this log bounced and rolled about fifteen feet, right to the base of the tulip poplar, though the bed of Vinca major. Can you see that one pink rose back beside the house (out of the way, thank goodness)?
And this is what I was left with. The bedraggled plant on the right is what's left of the oak leaf hydrangea.
Incidentally, I asked them to leave the bottom 12 feet of the trunk intact. As it dies, there's a good chance a woodpecker will make a home in it. I hope so.
All is well. Thanks, Jackson Electric!
BEEattitude for Day #553:
Blessed are those who do their job in a workmanlike manner, for they shall have their praises sung by all us bees.
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