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Monday, November 7, 2011

3-Ring Circus

3-ring collage
Last Friday was like a 3-ring circus at the Frog & PenguINN with several events happening at the same time. Grenville was battling a backed-up toilet, the furnace was being serviced, and the pecan tree in the front yard was being taken down.

As for the outcomes, the furnace was serviced, the tree removed, but the bathroom problems need more help despite Grenville’s earlier optimism about success. This week we’re exercising and using the shower facilities at the local “Y” until a plumber comes on Thursday, which was the earliest time available. Seems we’re not the only folks with plumbing issues.

The pecan tree pictured above was in the front yard next to a larger one removed last fall. It’s lopsided because it was shaded by the larger tree. That tree was taken down after the tree service (same one) we called to trim dead limbs advised us that a spot in the lower trunk could split in cold weather. During Hurricane Irene this past August, the pecan tree branches swayed very close to the F&P; one snapped, but did not come down. Pecan trees are notoriously brittle when high winds come around as witnessed by the large amount of branches that fell from our neighbor’s tree during Irene.

So we opted to remove the pecan tree this year. And like with the previous tree removal, we had the chips dumped in the back yard. Last year’s chips were used in the windflower jungle garden this spring.
tree removal1The tree service guys came around 10 a.m. and started to work despite overcast skies and a slight rainfall. Working in a bucket, one technician cut the branches away.
tree removal2A couple of other tree guys dragged and loaded them into the chipper.
tree removal3Last piece to go down was the tree trunk and these guys handled it quickly and professionally.
tree removal5tree removal4
The stump was ground down as well.
tree removal6
IMG_6525And the chips went here . . . lots of mulch.
Sometimes things happen at once – thankfully not always.

8 comments:

Elaine said...

Nice capture of the pecan tree removal! I'm finally catching up on blogs since we've gotten home. You certainly did not have a good homecoming. Fortunately ours was trouble-free, no electro-gremlins or plumbing mishaps, but also no sweet surprises in the garden like you had. We had put ours to bed before we left and as expected everything was covered in snow when we got back. I'm still not totally adjusted to the four hour time change with the added daylight savings hour thrown in too. I'm still a couple of hours off of my normal schedule, but getting an early start on the day isn't all bad.

Anvilcloud said...

You guys are simply having too much fun.

Anonymous said...

To bad about the plumbing. I hope they can fix it quickly!

To bad that You have to take down that pecan but its better to do that than the tree falling down. I liked to see those photographs of that job!

I would love to have all those chips around my pond :-) :-)

Have a great day!
Christer.

Connie said...

It's interesting to watch them take a big tree down. We had one cut down once. They have a step by step process they go through.

Hope things settle down for you soon and get things back to normal! :)

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

Elaine, glad to hear that you also made it home safely. Again, it was great fun to meet you both. True, we came home to a series of "situations" but hopefully everything will be settled by this week. I almost think the house was getting even for being ignored!

AC, this is not the fun we would like to be having.

Christer, watching a tree coming down with professionals doing the job is interesting and much safer than if we attempted to do it ourselves. We agree that losing a tree is sad, but after watching it sway in the recent storm, we could not risk it coming down and hitting the house some other time. We will replant a tree at some future time.

Yes Daisy, it is a process which goes very smoothly and these guys were really good at their job.

Unknown said...

What a detail moment by moment photo collage of the pecan tree's demise. Good you could use the chips. They say things happen in 3's, (or is that only deaths?) and if so with your tree, toilet and furnace you have seen the last. So frustrating to have to wait for a plumber, but so it goes, the positive side is the Y work outs. It is always something.

Eggs In My Pocket said...

Glad it all worked out well! blessings,Kathleen

Sweet Virginia Breeze said...

When we had the oak tree in our back yard taken down a few weeks ago, we were out of town and I didn't get to see it done. Thanks for the pictures of the process.