The Tree Guys Returneth

Oh no!! Not again! Yes, we have more vast piles of sticks, trunks, branches and logs to remove from our yard. We do have our work cut out for us. But we're happy! We rejoice! Because they did come back and did a swell job. (We've been waiting for a few months, as you may recall. The tree guys were busy and the weather was against us. I guess we can also admit that it was nice to have a break in between gigantic clean up duties...)
Here are some action shots:

And they were wicked fast. The arrived shortly after 9:00 am and by 10:30 they were done and gone.

They worked fast but were remarkably accurate and careful. As we watched out the window, Bob
said, "I guess you can say goodbye to the little Japanese black pine you planted there." And I opined philosophically that was probably the price of having gambled and planted right where they were eventually dropping trees. But much to my wondering eyes, when I examined the scene of all this mayhem, the little pine was fine! It was surrounded by branches and debris but utterly unscathed. And all the rhododendrons were fine, too. (Which makes me doubly happy because they have finally grown and they all have buds.) Good job!

Boy, I could never do this: these guys are thirty feet up in the air in a bucket and it's windy and they're swinging a chain saw around. Not my idea of fun.
We had requested that they leave the trunks about 8 to 10 feet tall because I have this (half crazy) idea that I am going to apply mosaic to them, like we did on the pathway. I'm psyched but was a little disappointed that the one dangerous, precariously leaning tree was left- leaning- but about 10 feet tall. I remarked to Bob that I should have asked them to take that one all the way down. But he pointed out that that was actually the TOP of one of the trees they had dropped, and it had landed upside down, stuck in the ground. Wow.

There's Bob watching the last tree being removed. Bob is so smart; we had taken a walk in our woods the other day, searching for an Xmas tree. We tentatively picked one out, but I think we both felt badly sacrificing a nice living tree for a couple of weeks of joy. So then Bob says, "Why don't we fabricate a tree from the fallen pines and spruces?" What a genius idea! The constructed tree looks really good* and is ready to come in a be decorated. A win/win and it didn't cost us anything (except the money to have the tree guys visit.)

To be featured in an upcoming post.

Rites of Passage

In case you didn't know, my birthday was July 20th. My favorite present thus far is definitely this fun-loving little Picea Orientalis "Skylands". I have wanted one for ages and almost purchased one multiple times but waited as I wasn't sure where it would go as they do grow and get quite large! But with all that (ahem) available real estate opening up in the back yard, placement is suddenly less an issue. Bob and I took a field trip to Broken Arrow Nursery and located this specimen. I liked the long outreach of his branch; He seemed optimistic. Bob (for reasons unknown) promptly named the tree "Spencer". So welcome Spencer!

Here's the rest of the booty. Bob thrust me firmly into the twenty-first century by presenting me with a Smart Phone. Thank you Bob! Now I will just have to figure out how to activate it and what to do with my fossil phone. I am going to miss showing off just how tragic my phone is/was; you'll recall that it is held together with tape, elastic bands and love. Suffice it to say, I did well in the gifts department and couldn't be happier!

A passage of another sort occurred today. Bob chain sawed an opening in the three-trunked spruce that had landed square in the middle of Maggie's field. That was a lot to cut through! Now Maggie can take a short cut back to her barn and I don't have to steer wheelbarrows full of manure all over the fifty states to dump it! It was quite a journey with a full load of horse manure; especially in the heat and humidity. Try it some time!
And look! More piles of wood! More stacks of logs! Hahahaha! I think I've reached my wood saturation point. Yes, I know we will be happy this winter when we have tons and tons of wood to keep us warm, but there is a lot of the stuff.
And look at this:

That's the top of yet another spruce tree that broke off and landed point down in Maggie's field. That's another sort of clean up to attend to... another day!