Cutting Down More Trees

I guess the HOA here is worried about a tough winter because the guys from the tree cutting service showed up this afternoon to do prophylactic tree removal on the three dead trees in the front corner of our property. One of the trees was precariously close to a lamp post. Actually, they were just beyond the front corner of our property, so not our responsibility. Otherwise, Shari would have had them down long ago.  I have to say I am of two minds about them coming down: on the one hand, the dead tree were unattractive; on the other, they did attract a lot of birds, particularly woodpeckers. While the crew was working, a Mourning Dove flew in, alighted on the tip of the tallest tree, realized this was not a steady perch and flew off.

I wish I'd known they were coming--I would have taken some "before" photos. Here are the "after" shots:

I thought they would use the bucket on a crane to bring down the largest tree, but instead, one guy just peeled the bark away from the tree, made some strategic cuts with his chain saw, and pushed the tree over!

Spewing out the wood chips.

Cleaning up.

My neighbor timed the whole job: 53 minutes to take down 3 trees and clean up. Fully half the time was spent sweeping, blowing, and raking twigs, bark, and wood chips off the grass and out of the street. So 27 minutes, roughly to make 3 trees completely disappear. To quote Leonard Cohen: We are so lightly here.

Why only two stumps if I said there were 3 trees? Two of the trees were joined at the very bottom and shared a root system. I suppose it is a minor philosophical botanical question as to whether it was one tree with two trunks or two trees. Here's the solution: the HOA is getting charged for 3 trees.