Tree Removal

A week ago we had a huge tree removed from our backyard. It was a maple that appeared to have started as 5 separate saplings close together that eventually merged into one huge tree with five trunks. It was close to the house and we were looking for some more sun in the backyard. Since it would just continue to grow into the house and have to come down eventually, we decided to get some estimates. The first one was ridiculously high, but more than three times as expensive as the second one. Why? The second tree service has a crane. First, here's the before picture:

Then there was the actual tree removal. To begin, we had a huge crane parked in the driveway:

Then, rather than putting some guy in a bucket up in the tree that cuts the tree apart piece by piece, they did this:

1. Use the crane to lift a guy into the tree. He ties a strap from the crane onto the tree.
2. The guy lowers himself down to the ground with a rock-climbing type of rope setup.
3. He cuts the tree near the base.
4. The crane lifts a large piece of the tree - probably 50 feet in length or more over the house and into the front yard, as seen here:



5. This is probably my favorite part - at first I figured that they would lay the big piece of tree in the front yard, cut it into pieces and put them into the chipper. Oh, no: instead, another guy guides the base of the huge section of the tree into the chipper, they lay the whole piece out flat and then put the whole thing through the chipper:



It went amazingly fast, and now our yard looks much different:

Lisa's garden beds are in progress now, too, so hopefully we'll have sprouting veggies soon.