The Last Tree

After the razing of the 22 acres formerly known as the Tiffany Park Woods, it was time to take out the last tree near our home.  No hard feelings.  In fact,  I’m over it.  For the last several months I’ve actually enjoyed following the progress of the new development.  (Of course I have no choice; the construction is in my backyard.)  Most of the trees were gone months ago, but they waited until now to take out the old cottonwood behind us, probably because the overhang onto our property required special handling.

It was the one tree we were happy to see go.  It didn’t seem healthy and its old branches had woven into one of our Douglas Firs.  It was also a messy tree that dropped leaves and debris year round.   Even worse than the leaves, it dropped sticky pods everywhere that the poor cats brought in on their fur.

You can see the old tree next to our evergreens.

We’d been waiting for it to be removed and were happy when we found out it was finally coming down. We watched as they secured cables and pulleys to the tree and the brave logger climbed up high into its branches. He looks like a large woodpecker in the picture below.

We stood a good distance away and watched as he cut away the most invasive limbs,  including the very limb he was sitting on!

I uttered a prayer for his safety (and ours) but still wondered if I could outrun the tree if it landed opposite to where they planned.   After enough limbs were removed a rope was tied to a large tractor nearby and pulled taut.  ‘X’ marked the spot for the sawing to begin.

The deepest cut occurred on the right side where the fall should occur.  Less cutting followed on the opposite side, and then the shouting began to move that tractor!  A few seconds later we heard the sharp crack of the tree and then the thunderous boom as the earth shook when it hit the ground. The end came quickly and I struggled to capture the actual fall, having forgotten my camera settings were zoomed in and close-up.

See what I mean?  What can I say, I’m still learning!

While lamenting my poor picture of the climax, the Project Manager standing nearby was kind enough to share some great shots he got with his phone.

And this was how it looked outside our fence after the fall.  A perfect landing!

So, that’s that,.  No more floating cotton, messy leaves nor picking out the sticky pods from our cats’ fur. The project continues with more infrastructure and road work the next couple months.  Then the building of houses begins, after which we eagerly await the replanting of trees (five for everyone one removed we hear) and a new cedar fence besides (so we hope and as rumor has it.)

~  Susanne