Trees Coming Down

Before repairing the damage one tree did to the cottage porch, we decided that it would be smart to remove two other trees that were over 100 feet tall and in a similar position as the one that had fallen on its own.

Thus tree-felling became an evening's entertainment.

Here the tree cutter, Danne, is working his way up the pine, lopping off one branch at a time.


Below is Keith, the fellow who runs the tree removal company, and my sister, Nancy, watching from the porch.

On the ground are Carol Ann, her adopted son Eli, and Ursula in between them. All are watching Danne in the pine tree using his chain saw to lop off branches.

 

Watching...

          watching...

                     watching...

                                waiting...

because the very top is about to be cut loose...

                                                                 
Danne, of course, was strapped to the branchless section of the tree trunk. When the top fell, the standing trunk vibrated as if there was a magnitude 10 earthquake!

I thought for sure the roots would lift out of the ground and the trunk would fall with Danne getting crushed. I'd never seen a tree move that much, that fast, but after what seemed like an eternity it stopped being a rodeo bucking bronco. Danne loosened his ropes and calmly began to descend.

Amazing.

             

Ursula and Luke, Carol Ann and Mike's other adopted son, continued to watch...

Folk from my cousins' cottage next door came over as well. The show certainly wasn't over...

The next section of tree trunk was about to fall, but first there was plenty of sawdust in the air.

Notice how Danne's feet don't appear to be resting on anything. He was wearing a tree-climbing version of stirrups that acted like cats' claws.

     

And the next section came down...


That time the standing section of tree trunk didn't vibrate.

After the last section of the pine was on the ground, Danne began working on the oak tree. Most of the time we couldn't see him...

                                      but Eli was sure trying to peek under the branches...

 Most of the oak tree has now become our wood pile. We hadn't been using the fireplace because no one wanted to buy firewood...that won't be a problem for the next few years!