Monday, May 5, 2008

The Making of a Tree Hugger or How We Celebrated Arbor Day

Sorry about the dry spell. I have been going to the gym at 5:30 in the morning and my late night blogging has suffered. So, here is a little story-that turned into a long story.


This is our willow tree.

We love this tree. It is probably about 15 years old and very, very big. It shades the west side of our house and most of our front yard. It frames our house nicely and looks beautiful.



The kids love the tree swing. It goes much higher than the swing set, and when they look up they can see the sky through the yellow leaves and big branches of the tree.

Willow trees are not strong. They grow fast, but a small wind or the weight of the snow can make the branches break easily. We have spent many days picking up sticks after the wind blows-but we still love the tree.


A few weeks ago we discovered this (see picture). Not Good!


Oh, and this was on the other side!

We called a tree guy. He said we should take the tree down! I about cried. We called more tree guys hoping to get a better second opinion. The news got worse-“this is a liability,” “I wouldn’t park my car under this tree,” “Don’t put your kids in that swing,” “this tree is rotten all the way through!” Well after 5/6 bids, a few sleepless windy nights, and some heartache we decided the tree would have to come down. We called the tree guys who had worked on the tree before-they said they would beat all of the other bids and he said he would be out on Tuesday to work on the tree.

Well, look at what happened on Tuesday!

It split in two and the section that fell down kind of swung out and around the house. It was a good thing I knew it was cracked, or I would have had a minor panic attack when it blew over.

I think all the prayers we said to save the tree actually saved our house-or maybe the tree knew how much we liked it and didn’t want to cause more damage than necessary.


The tree guys showed up as scheduled, but instead of giving us a bid on a standing tree they took out the chainsaws and went to town. Now, when an act of nature blew the first half of the tree over I didn’t feel too bad, but those saws made me feel like a tree killer!


They actually had the whole tree down in about 45 minutes. They came back the next day and ran the whole tree through the chipper (this was worse than the saws). They ground down the stump and roots and now our house is naked!


The ironic thing is that this all happened right around Arbor Day (last Friday). We will be planting some new trees. If you have any ideas let us know. We want something strong (no willows), something that grows fairly quickly, provides good shade, and looks pretty. I’ve always loved nature and considered myself environmentally minded, but I can honestly say I am now a tree hugger. Hug a tree today-it might not be there tomorrow.


If you would like some mulch call us-we have a ton.

7 comments:

Nora Mair said...

your house does look naked! I'll hug a tree for you.

Mindy said...

I thought the same thing- your house IS naked! Looking at those pictures made me sad too. Just an idea- we love our two shademasters in the back yard. They are the two big ones close to the west fence, by the deck. I don't know what the real name of the trees are but I'm sure dad would know. They give use lots of shade and the leaves are not too bad to clean up in the fall.

Jill said...

That poor tree. I don't know if I will recognize your house anymore! I am glad no one got hurt.

Katie L. said...

How sad! I love trees and all of ours are still sticks...they are getting bigger but not useable for shade! I'm so sorry that happened!

Adam and Bri VanSleeuwen said...

I'm so sorry about your tree. It's so sad to look at your house without that huge tree. Good luck on finding a new one to plant.

Julie said...

Robyn- I am so sorry. I love a good sturdy tree too. I am so glad you noticed it before something bad happened. I'm sure that day was not fun. Good luck finding another tree.

tamster17 said...

Sorry to hear about your tree dilemna -- it was such a beautiful tree! And the shade thing is such a nice thing especially this time of year! Glad no one or no thing got hurt or damaged before you found out though!