goodbye to a tree

Last April, the oak tree that has framed the view on the back deck at 711 for forty years fell down. Remarkably, it damaged nothing vital. The railing next to it was smashed, and the corner of the deck bench broken. It brought down the remaining bit of the fiberglass awning, and the clothesline was pulled off the wall, without damaging the wall.

Chuck, who worked for an outfit that contracted with powerlines to cut trees, agreed to cut it up and get it off the deck. He and Eddie got the upper branches cut and freed the oak tree to the east that they were resting on. And he made a few little tentative cuts in the trunk, but never did any more. Then he and Kristin moved out without notice. And the tree lay there, all summer in the 100° heat, drying out.


This morning, with just the little 16" chainsaw, all by himself, Eddie cut it into sections and rolled them off the deck. Here he poses in well-deserved triumph.

There's a good deal of winter heat there, before I finally say goodbye to the tree completely. And considerable work still to split the sections into burnable pieces. But that was a really fine morning's work!