Thursday, September 5, 2019

Big Tree Down

Good evening. This is a special report from The Daily Bone. I'm your excited doggie reporter
Chester L. W. Spaniel. As promised, today I will document the removal of the huge silver maple tree in my back yard.


Here's a picture of me in front of the tree yesterday. Ghostwriter says the siblings planted it over 30 years ago when it was just a tiny seedling. It  grew quickly, and provided shade for many family events.


Eventually, it became a behemoth, with four main trunks, either of which could fall and do major damage to our house or our neighbors' yards if there was an ice storm. 

Over the years, the Evil Squirrel Cartel has been trying to claim it for their headquarters, repeatedly building nests out of sticks and leaves, only to have Dad knock them down. They also like to scramble up it whenever I chase them away from the birdie feeders. Won't they be surprised when they find that tree is gone! 


This morning, lots of trucks pulled up in front of our house, with several different big machines. The first guy on the job climbed part of the way up the tree, and started cutting branches with a chain saw.


He soon had a pile like this:


He had a few other guys to help clear away the branches. Next he drove this machine into the yard:


It had a not too terribly noisy motor that put down four legs to keep it steady. Then it literally unfolded until it looked like a preying mantis. There was a big bucket on the end that one man could fit into.


It lifted him way up high so he could reach the tree top.


The branches that reached over our yard were no problem. They fell down onto the ground in our yard. But many of the other branches were extended out over the fences and the neighbors' trees and bushes. He needed to use a rope and pulley system, and lots of help from his team to get these down without hitting anything. In the next picture, you can see a limb coming down attached to a rope:


Another guy held the rope, with the help of a pulley, so that the branch could be lowered carefully to the ground.


Sometimes he had to pull pretty hard to keep it steady!


After all the over-hanging limbs were down, he began cutting off the two remaining trunks. Piece by piece, they fell down with an earth-shaking thump …


… until all that was left was the stump!


While all this was going on, another man drove around in a machine called a Dingo, that picked up the felled branches and took them to the front yard.


Don't be fooled by its small size. That Dingo could lift even the heaviest tree trunks!


Most of the branches were ground into chips by this super noisy screeching machine:


The bigger logs were piled up by the curb, until they were picked up and loaded into yet another truck:


There goes the last log!


In case you're wondering, I spent a lot of time running and barking back and forth from the front door to the kitchen window. I think I did a good job supervising. The entire job took about six hours, and the team worked together like a well-oiled machine! Ghostwriter wondered where they found such hard-working folks for a tough job like that.  


But they weren't done yet! There was still this last piece to get out of the ground:


Another roaring dragon loud machine thing named Bandit arrived, and in a short time, ground down this stump into a big heap of wood chips.


Then the Dingo came back, after exchanging its lifter claw for a shovel, and took most of the wood chips away. Dad asked the guys to leave some of the chips so we could use them as mulch.


Now, here's the spot where the monster tree used to be:


They also removed the dying spruce tree in the front yard. But that one only took them a short time!


Thanks Flower City Tree Company!


What an exciting day!




Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz …


17 comments:

  1. What a job, we would have been barking, er...supervising for 6 hours.

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  2. We would have made more noise with our barking than those tree removal machines, BOL! Thanks for a good report! Now where will all those squirrels retreat to??

    Petcretary thought your tree team and their cool machines might be a wee bit more interesting that even Ironboardman!

    Hope you'll all feel much safer in the storms that will be around in the seasons of ice and wind.

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  3. We, too, have had big trees we've had to say goodbye too, it is sad to see them go, but often necessary. The men and machines who do this are amazing ... and in some ways it is also an art form to watch them. Too bad the stump couldn't stay behind ... become your own little "Giving Tree" seat for all the wonderful memories the tree held ...

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  4. Wow - what an amazing job they did! The squirrels are sure gonna be mad at you, Chester☺

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  5. That sure was a huge tree to take down. You gave us a great play by play analysis of the days events. We were exhausted after our tree removal days too.

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  6. OMD, those tree rats are going to be SO surprised!!! BOL!!!

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  7. Wow Chester, what a great job you did snoopervising all that hard work! We can't wait to hear how the squirrels handle the disappearance of their hideout!

    xoxo,
    Arty, Jakey & Rosy

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  8. I did think that big green 4-legged machine looked like a praying mantis! Wow! You earned a nap, C. Six hours of snoopervising and announcing results and procedures had to be pretty exhausting!

    Love and licks,
    Cupcake

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  9. Very interesting to see how they took that tree down! Thanks for sharing
    hugs
    Mabel & Hilda

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  10. RIP, big tree. That was a massive undertaking for that crew. Great job. Were you peeps as amazed as ours at how much mulch that stump can create?

    Woos - Lightning, Misty, and Timber

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  11. I hate to see a tree come down but sometimes it is necessary. The tree will be waiting for you t the Bridge

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  12. We understand why the tree had to go but feel a little sad. It does look like it was fun to watch!

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  13. That is something to bark about! We would have been afraid of all the noise.
    Bye-Bye pretty tree. Now you have room to plant something else!

    Love, Wyatt and Tegan

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  14. I'm sorry such a bootifur tree had to be taken away, but you're all safer now. You did a furrific job supervising!

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  15. Oh my Dogs Chester...what a project. That was one honking big tree with lots of potential to fall come ice and snow season. I love trees as much as the next person but I love my house more. Glad you were able to snoopervise that huge job. I bet it took all day and I KNOW from personal experience it was NOISY and scary. I love that 3rd picture of You my handsome friend
    Hugs cecilia

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  16. That looks like hard work to supervise! Good job you were there Chester.

    Klem, Mara

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  17. Gosh those picture are sure a good recommendation for the Flower City Tree guys. If they were here in my Nati City I would hire them to take down the farthest maple in my yard ~ it needs to be done but Lee downs not want all our grass torn up and the yard looking a mess which usually happens with tree services here. We like the preying mantis machine. Good job of reporting Mr Chester L. W. Spaniel.
    Your Friend
    Wills

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