Killer Trees and Lumberjacks

This was the damaged section of fencing.

Strike one:  Two years ago we installed a six foot fence around our entire property.  We have good relationships with all of our neighbors, but we do like our privacy.  And, we had just gotten a new puppy.

Not even one month after the fence was built, a storm blew down a large piece of the tree from our neighbor's back yard onto our fence.  The damage from the falling tree cost us about $400 to replace those fence sections.

At that time we had a discussion with the neighbor about the health of that offending tree.  Numerous falling dead branches were caught in the upper branches, just waiting to come down.

Then, just a month ago during a windy storm, some of those very branches fell onto his house and took out the electric lines, giving us quite a show of fireworks.

That big tree really needs to be taken down.

Strike two:  About a month ago, a large branch from another one of the (same) neighbor's trees out front blew down onto our car, smashing the roof in and creating $5600 worth of damage.

According to the insurance company it was an "Act of God" and so our (not his) insurance company covered all but the $250 deductible amount, which we had to pay.  Not him.

Those two trees there along his sidewalk are so misshapen and have broken off pieces in other storms.  They are disasters just waiting to happen.

Those trees really need to be taken down.

Strike three

Strike three:  Fast forward to this week, and his other tree there on the sidewalk - the one closest to our property - dropped a large branch during the night, during a rainstorm, just due to the weight of the wet leaves, onto our property again.

It fell onto our fence and onto our plants and shrubs along our fence and along the curb. Our small tree there along the curb also took a beating.  When the branch came crashing down it broke numerous branches off of our little (new) tree.

Like I said, those trees really need to be taken down.  And we have had discussions with the neighbor several times throughout the years about this.

Well.  In my book, three strikes means something better happen.  Truly we are at the limits of our patience and our dollars for fixing stuff from his dumb trees.

We may have had a firm discussion with him after the third offense on Tuesday, and so, lo and behold, the tree removal guys showed up yesterday afternoon.

I don't know what it is about lumberjacks, but I always enjoy watching the process of taking a big tree down.  They blocked off both ends of our street and went to work, starting by cutting down the bottommost branches.  Each removed branch left a "step" for the guy to climb higher.

Meanwhile the other guys on the ground used ropes to pull the branches down and away from our property, for the most part.  Honestly our plants there near the sidewalk took quite a smashing from all the branches and debris that were falling throughout the job.

The falling branches were put into a grinder.  We watched as the truck filled with wood chips and then shot much of them out over the top and onto our porch and porch furniture.  It appeared to us that the smart thing to do would be to go and EMPTY THE FULL bin, but no, they just kept loading, grinding and trashing our front porch and gardens.  

We may have had a firm discussion with the workers about smashing our plants and about trashing our porch, and they assured us that the plants are fine and that they will be blowing off our porch.  Somehow, we were not comforted.

One of the workers on the ground joked to the guy with the chainsaw about this lady who just got a good photo of a monkey in a tree.  There were several times throughout the afternoon that I debated with myself whether we were watching a circus act or a lumberjack operation.  The verdict is still out.

Apparently, it was time for a cigarette break.  While he was getting out his smokes, I was keeping an eye on what appeared to be some frayed rope.

After the cigarette break, work resumed.  By dinnertime, both trees had been taken down and all parts either put into the grinder or sawed into firewood.

Two trees down now, and now we can safely park our vehicles out front again.

I'll still worried about that third humongous tree out in his back yard though.  I wonder what it will take for him to take action on that one.

I just hope nobody gets hurt.  Not even him.