Stumpless

So the last bits of our tree, recognizable as a tree, disappeared today. This machine is huge, noisy and fast. A tree stump over 30 inches in diameter disappeared in less than an hour. It was actually kind of cool to watch - back and forth just pulping that thing. Now we have lots and lots of mulch. It's a good thing. - Hope

Yesterday and today

Yesterday we had the Norway Maple tree in our backyard cut down. We were convinced of the need by the number of huge branches, narrowly missing our power lines, house, and garage that had come down during each of the storms that have blasted through our area this summer. It was a bit of a sad/relieved feeling. Relieved we won't have to worry about the tree coming down on its own. Sad because our father planted that tree more than 50 years ago and it's been a constant in our lives.

We are hoping it will have a second life - as our new kitchen cabinets. We found a local company that recycles trees into lumber. Watching them maneuver the giant logs out of our yard yesterday was a nail-biter - but the loader was amazing.

This is all that's left of the tree today. Teddy, as always, sees it-climbs it. Dax always enjoyed lying in that spot when the tree was there. Don't know what she'll do when they remove the stump.

Tango likes to dig in the wood chips and chew on them.

And he thinks its funny. He's right. - Hope

Can't win...

We've told you about the 50-year old maple tree in the backyard that was damaged in the storm last week?? Well, since there are so many limbs that come down whenever the wind blows, we decided that the tree has to come down. We got the estimate and sent back the contract to the tree service just a couple of days ago. But we had another storm last night - brief but violent supercell with extremely high winds. More branches came down - Teddy got to chew on some really big sticks! One is resting on the house and on another branch in the tree. Don't blow too hard.