Timber!

So while I was at home on Monday we had a tree service come by to cut down our huge walnut tree in the back yard. It had simply become unmanageable, dropping the nuts all over our deck and all over the yard. Add to this, our squirrel population will break them up, the end result was shards of broken nut casings all over our yard, making it impossible to walk on. We plan to cut up the wood and use it in our fireplace for next year, so some good is coming from the tree's sacrifice.

Watching the guys cut it down was quite the show. One guy literally climbed to the top of the tree, with a support rope of course, but still, quite a feat. Then took the chainsaw attached to his belt and began cutting the limbs. After this was done, it was time to take down the trunk, which was managed by a few strategic cuts and people pulling on some ropes. There is now quite a divot in our back yard from this but everything came down safely. Now I need to figure out how I am going to split all of this wood...

We also plan to plant a few trees in the yard to make up for this loss, so hopefully the long term impact of removing this one will be offset. We have a willow tree for our damp section of the yard and also a red maple that will go in a TBD section. We got them from the Arbor Day Foundation. They are not kidding about them being baby trees - they are literally twigs right now. I hope that they grow quickly and we see the benefits of these plantings in the next couple of years.