Where do I begin? The removal of the trees did not happen as planned last Thursday. What should have been a relatively simple tree removal turned into the most complicated of issues. We nearly ended up with the trees on the house. Read on for the whole story.
On Thursday morning, Baxter and I were up very early and moved the outdoor furniture and plants out of the way so the guys could work unimpeded.
The ferns and a few clay pots along with a suffering palm tree where moved to the deck steps. With these few items out of the way and a few other items scattered about the yard, we had plenty of open space for the guys to remove the sections of tree from the back yard to their equipment in front via the sidewalk along the side of the house. But, as we all know, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.
I took this shot of the tree that was to be removed as I was preparing space in the back yard that morning. It appeared to be leaning toward the house more so than before Wednesday night, but I thought maybe I was just imagining things. It turned out, I was not.
The guys from Adirondack Tree Experts showed up at 7:30 AM. They were ready to get to work removing the diseased gum trees and I was ready for them to get to work. I took them to the location of the trees in the yard because at that point, only Dan the estimator had seen them. When I showed them the trees, they immediately expressed concern about the job.
On the previous evening, we had quite a strong thunderstorm come through the area. There was lots of rain and thunder and lightening, ... and wind. We were fortunate that lightening did not strike the tree. But we were not so fortunate with the wind.
As you can see in this picture, the already diseased trunk split in the high winds that came with the storm on Wednesday evening.
This split in the trunk caused a whole new problem. Not only were we dealing with the massive decay at the base of the tree, but now the very structure of the tree was severely compromised. Would it be safe for someone to climb the tree and begin the process of removing it section by section? After closer examination it was decided that no, it was not safe for anyone to climb the tree.
Here, you can see a closer shot of the actual trunk that has split horizontally, or "planked". This was also due to the high winds in the storm on Wednesday evening.
The tree was now in the most precarious of situations. The guys left because there was nothing they could do that day. I was on the phone with the owner of Adirondack immediately to see what would be the next steps we needed to take to get this tree removed. He was gracious enough to reschedule his day and come over to take a look. After close inspection he said,"We're going to need a crane". My heart sank. What was I in for now? I had had trees removed from Crest Avenue previously and it was a relatively simple task. Now we were talking about cranes!! He told me they had a crane, but it was not large enough for this job. He would do some checking and get back to me.
I spent all of Friday, Saturday and Sunday worrying about what time of the day or night this tree was going to fall on the house. The rest of the time I spent on WeatherBug checking radar to see when the next storm would arrive. A tense and unhappy weekend it was.
On Monday evening as I arrived home, a young man called out to me from across the street. He was the crane operator from another tree removal company who had been sent to assess the situation and to schedule a crane to come for removal of the tree. "I'm sorry, but we do not have a crane large enough for this job" he said. I thanked him for stopping by and he left. "What do I do now", I'm thinking to myself. Is there a crane large enough to remove this tree? And, if so, how much does a crane large enough to remove this tree cost? I decided to take a sleeping pill and go to bed and deal with it the next day. Because, after all, tomorrow is another day.
Come back on Monday for the conclusion to The Tree.
On Thursday morning, Baxter and I were up very early and moved the outdoor furniture and plants out of the way so the guys could work unimpeded.
The zero-gravity lounge chairs, several tall stainless steel planters and the wrought iron chairs were all moved to the patio.
The ferns and a few clay pots along with a suffering palm tree where moved to the deck steps. With these few items out of the way and a few other items scattered about the yard, we had plenty of open space for the guys to remove the sections of tree from the back yard to their equipment in front via the sidewalk along the side of the house. But, as we all know, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.
I took this shot of the tree that was to be removed as I was preparing space in the back yard that morning. It appeared to be leaning toward the house more so than before Wednesday night, but I thought maybe I was just imagining things. It turned out, I was not.
The guys from Adirondack Tree Experts showed up at 7:30 AM. They were ready to get to work removing the diseased gum trees and I was ready for them to get to work. I took them to the location of the trees in the yard because at that point, only Dan the estimator had seen them. When I showed them the trees, they immediately expressed concern about the job.
On the previous evening, we had quite a strong thunderstorm come through the area. There was lots of rain and thunder and lightening, ... and wind. We were fortunate that lightening did not strike the tree. But we were not so fortunate with the wind.
As you can see in this picture, the already diseased trunk split in the high winds that came with the storm on Wednesday evening.
This split in the trunk caused a whole new problem. Not only were we dealing with the massive decay at the base of the tree, but now the very structure of the tree was severely compromised. Would it be safe for someone to climb the tree and begin the process of removing it section by section? After closer examination it was decided that no, it was not safe for anyone to climb the tree.
Here, you can see a closer shot of the actual trunk that has split horizontally, or "planked". This was also due to the high winds in the storm on Wednesday evening.
The tree was now in the most precarious of situations. The guys left because there was nothing they could do that day. I was on the phone with the owner of Adirondack immediately to see what would be the next steps we needed to take to get this tree removed. He was gracious enough to reschedule his day and come over to take a look. After close inspection he said,"We're going to need a crane". My heart sank. What was I in for now? I had had trees removed from Crest Avenue previously and it was a relatively simple task. Now we were talking about cranes!! He told me they had a crane, but it was not large enough for this job. He would do some checking and get back to me.
I spent all of Friday, Saturday and Sunday worrying about what time of the day or night this tree was going to fall on the house. The rest of the time I spent on WeatherBug checking radar to see when the next storm would arrive. A tense and unhappy weekend it was.
On Monday evening as I arrived home, a young man called out to me from across the street. He was the crane operator from another tree removal company who had been sent to assess the situation and to schedule a crane to come for removal of the tree. "I'm sorry, but we do not have a crane large enough for this job" he said. I thanked him for stopping by and he left. "What do I do now", I'm thinking to myself. Is there a crane large enough to remove this tree? And, if so, how much does a crane large enough to remove this tree cost? I decided to take a sleeping pill and go to bed and deal with it the next day. Because, after all, tomorrow is another day.
Come back on Monday for the conclusion to The Tree.
