Fun times with chainsaws

There are a number of titles I could have given this post.

"Disaster Averted"
"An Ounce of Prevention"
"When NOT to DIY, Unless You Have A Bucket Truck and Lots of Insurance"

If we had waited until the next big storm to pass before taking action, the title of this post could easily have been "OH !@%$#@^!!!"

Exhibit A.

Exhibit B

60 foot tree 15 feet away from two houses - you do the math

Exhibit C.

Guess whose bedroom that is????

The neighbor knocked on our door the other day and said "I want to show you something..." We had noticed the crack before but it definitely took a turn for the worse at some point recently.  These trees were probably planted when the houses were built in the late '20s.  One nice thing about this neighborhood is that no one has fences.  Kids and dogs just run around like crazy and neighbors actually talk to each other.  However, this means that we rely on these informal vegetation barriers for a modicum of privacy, and in the case of our neighbors and us, we're not actually sure who owns them!  Rather than sorting this out with lawyers, surveyors, and insurance agents at some point in the likely-not-too-distant future, Gabe and Mark did the neighborly thing and agreed to split the bill for having a pro take it down.  Bring on the bucket truck.  

All limbed up

View from the second floor after the tops came down

It's tough to see in these pictures, but there are at least three trees joined together by some crazy vines.  When it finally came down, we were darn glad for those vines because the guy doing the cutting was convinced that they were the only reason that tree didn't already come down the hard way.

YIKES

We dodged a bullet there.  And the living room is a bit sunnier.  But the most importantly, we'll be sleeping a lot better on windy nights.