Monday, April 4, 2011

STORM CLEAN-UP

Last week, my daughter Kimberly posted this on her blog regarding the tree that fell on her property. It turned out to be my Mom's tree actually, who lives up the hill from her. That was a good thing, really. It had to be removed by a professional tree service and it was pretty costly.

Do you see the young man to the right of the tree? See how small he is and how tall all the trees are? The tree standing at the base of the fallen tree had two forks remaining that had to be removed also. Too dangerous to leave them standing.

Here, the guys are working very hard to take all the limbs off the tree, put them through the chipper, and then cut the remaining trunk up into sections to be hauled off at a later date. This is the hard way to do it though. The branches are all pounded into the ground because of the weight of the tree when it fell. And being pounded into the ground means chunks of rock and mud attached to the limbs. Not great for the chipper blades!

So, what to do then? Bring in the boom truck and cut the branches off of the standing tree before it falls to the ground. This was the plan for the rest of the tree. You can see that the fork that was on the right has already been dropped in this photo.

You couldn't pay me to get up into that bucket and maneuver it toward the tree, wielding a chainsaw in one hand and holding on with the other.


At the end of the day, the tree was safely removed, minus the branches. It was cut up into huge sections and will be hauled away. As of today, the logs are still resting on the ground waiting to be taken away. But, we all feel much safer without this tree dangling over the road each time we drive or walk up and down the road to my Mom's. And a note post- removal: Anthony, the owner of the tree removal service, managed to cut his arm with the chainsaw while up in the bucket! He told me it was the first time ever that he has cut himself while working. I guess there is always a first time for everything. And hopefully this is the last time too!

6 comments:

  1. wow. those are huge trees...glad no one was under there when it fell...yikes....we watched the tree cutters take down a big one in the neighbors yard a month back...my boys were fascinated.

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  2. That's a really big tree to have come down...lucky no one was injured. The trees are so pretty there. Are you moved yet? Greenhouse? Wow that would be wonderful...
    I've only planted the cooler season veggies so far...still a bit chilly here for anything else. End of May for the bigger plants from the nursery...tomatoes and such. Look forward to seeing your new garden.

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  3. What a shame....we lost about a dozen trees of that size this year when a tornado touched down on our property...,luckily none hit the house or the barn but it sure has changed my "shade" gardens! Lots of plants to be switched around this year for sure, and firewood to last us until 2015!

    Hope Anthony is alright, that's scary.

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  4. I'm glad that tree came down when no-one was under it. Anthony has my sympathy, chain saw wounds are very messy and very slow to heal. I will have to do some mental exercises now to shake the image of my son's leg when he cut it with a chain saw over 20 years ago - I can still see it so clearly! I'm glad to say that was the last time he ever used a chain saw.

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  5. These big trees get so old and fragile. It's a shame to see them go down but sometimes it's for the best. I'm glad no one was hurt.

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  6. Thank you for coming to my site to read and comment. What is the wabi sabi philosophy?

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