Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Tree Be Gone~

We had this big Birch tree in our front yard. It was a great tree in a bad location. I'm glad it's gone. Our tree guy gave us a great deal and we're very happy.
Facts:


  • Tree planted around 1958ish. The original owner (we're the third owner) lined his whole property with trees and the back yard has lots of trees too so I'm guessing this tree was planted around the same time the rest of them were.

  • The root system is (soon to be was) massive. Goes from curb to house. Mike, the tree guy, is also taking out the tree at the neighbors to the right and he has already taken out a tree at the neighbors to the left so he'll do all three roots at the same time. Soon.

  • The tree invaded the space of the power lines so the tree was trimmed yearly by PGE and it was....well.....lopsided.

  • The tree lost its massive amounts of leaves over the course of 2-3 months so we always had leaves to pick up.

  • The tree dripped sap during the hot weather months so no matter how often I washed my car, it was dirty with the tiniest little sappy dots. They made it hard to see out the window.

  • The tree had these little long pods that were made up of 2.7 billion individual brown round thingies and when they dropped on the ground and dried out, they'd fall apart x's 2.7 billion and we'd bring them in the house on our shoes. I loved sweeping them up daily. Do you know how many two of my own children bring in on their shoes and when they both have at least 2-3 friends with the each of them, well you can imagine how many billions that is being trekked in.

  • The tree attracted the most annoying squirrel who would climb half way down the tree and yell at our cat to taunt him. What else did it have to do with its time?

  • The tree was very acidic and was eating away at our roof which is why we now have to re-roof this summer. Some of the places on our roof are a little soft so it should be fun when it gets time. We are doing it ourselves. Can you say 'nothing but good times?'

Mike, the tree guy, used to log for a living but an injury doesn't allow him to do it full time but he does take down trees on the side. Watching him take down this tree was fun because the guy is really good at it and it's an art for sure. While cutting down the tree, Mike discovered that the core was rotting and the part that hung over our house was the part that was rotting so it was just a matter of time before that baby came down.

For the last four years I've lived under this tree, parked next to it, enjoyed its shade and watered the plants planted at the base of it and I never realized it was so tall. Not until I was photographing Mike, the tree guy, doing his stuff. Did I mention I'm so glad this tree is gone?

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