That’s a word, isn’t it? Felled? At first I used it confidently. Now I’m not so sure. Regardless. Our garage tree was cut down. Felled. Two days ago.
It was necessitated by our insurance company. They insisted that a tree in contact with the roof of our garage was grounds for canceling our coverage. Never mind that they have been insuring us for 6 years, and that the tree has clearly been growing into the roof of the garage for at least, um, THIRTY years. We got rid of that company, but apparently they pass around information in such a way that other companies wouldn’t cover us unless we cut down the tree. The whole deal made me sad. Because I love trees. And I’m not one to cut a tree down for no good reason. In fact, I even don’t like having trees trimmed much. Ask Harold. Anytime he gets a hankering for trimming trees, I hover around like a Mother Bird protecting her young. At the end of tree trimming day there’s always some, um, tension. So, to cut one down? What?
Stupid insurance companies.
But in the end, perhaps it was the best thing to do. The tree was terribly close to our garage, still, any damage that could have been done already was.
The process was quite amazing. Here it is. In pictures.
They used the Boom Truck to reach over our garage and get at the tree. It was an incredibly long arm. And incredibly brave men. Because it was a tiny little 2×2 bucket holding two men, very high in the air. I was scared.
A before shot of the two trees over the garage. Soon to be one trees.
A before shot of the two trees taken from our swing set in the back yard.
See how scary it would be to do that job?
Done. *sigh*
An “after” shot from the driveway. It still looks pretty full from there.
“After” from the swing set angle. A little thin looking.
If you look between the trunks of this tree, you’ll see where the old tree grew into the roof.
Good bye old tree…
(And happy 89th birthday Grandma Royuk.)
Holy cats – I didn’t know that’s where they parked the truck to do that!
I’m sorry that you had to lose a tree, but at least you have a great post! Your pictures are remarkable. I’m glad you took before and after shots.
I’m sorry too that you had to lose that tree…but your yard still looks really nice with the tree that was left behind. I hope it doesn’t die from a broken heart….what with losing its partner of what, 200 years?
And I agree…STUPID STUPID INSURANCE COMPANIES!!!!!!
It reminds me of a short story I read in high school where a guy invents a machine that lets him hear plants. In the story, his neighbor cuts roses and he hears them screaming.
Good bye old tree. We had a shade problem when we moved into this house. Years ago, people wanted the house surrounded by trees to help with cooling. Well, our windows are tiny, anyway, so there was precious little light coming into the house. So we took down two trees.
Speaking of trees and garages, I learned recently that if a neighbor’s tree falls on my house, I’m liable. He’s not. Fortunately I didn’t learn that from my experience. Two doors down a huge branch fell from one neigbor’s house onto the garage. With classic cars inside. And the neighbor whose tree it was said something like, “Gee, man, I’m sorry for you… tough break.”
I like boom trucks too. But I don’t like being in the bucket. I don’t fit in them very well; the sides only come up to my waist.
Hmmm…now that I think about it, if you had my insurance company, they wouldn’t even know that the tree existed.
Yea. They came out to look at our property, with no notification at all. Until they sent a letter telling us they were ceasing coverage. We don’t know why they came out. It’s all very weird to us.
I didn’t know you were such a tree-hugger Beth…but it is heart-breaking losing one that old and established, very sorry for your loss. I’ll call you Beth Butterfly Pester from now on.