A 50-year-old silver maple.  It was here when I bought my house and for many years before.  But in the last few years, some limbs got rough looking and had to be taken down, and punk began to grow on it.  The punk got worse each year.  There is a great tree service here who has done work for me before. Jamie from Cumberland Valley Tree  Service, http://www.cvtslandscape.com/ told me about a year ago that the tree should come down in a year or so.  There was no kind of treatment that would help it.  And if it or any part of it had fallen  on its own, between my house and garage, I would have been having a very bad day.

So I made arrangements for them to come and take the old tree down.  It was huge; couldn’t get my arms around it.  It provided me shade in the back yard for many years.  It provided seeds for the chip monks in the spring, and a transportation system for squirrels all year round: up the tree, then from that one to another to another across the yard.  It was a source of great wonder for my cat MaChatte, who got 6′ up it one day before I grabbed her and brought her down.  She’s the kind of cat who would have climbed till she ran out of tree, if we hadn’t had on the  leash and harness. Later she just went to it and looked up…wishing.

But I’ve learned since that silver maples are such soft wood that fungus and other diseases can attack them pretty easily. So, it was time for the old tree to go.

Aaron and Josh came from Cumberland Valley Tree Service with a big truck with the chipper on behind.  MaChatte went upstairs to hide in the bathtub. George, the owner of the company, had commented that we hadn’t invented quiet chain saws or chippers yet, and  MaChatte was sure her world was ending, but it was all just noise.

They got to work as I watched and took some pictures.  They trimmed off the small limbs and then took big chunks of larger limbs down with a pulley system and rope.

Then it was time for the whole trunk.  I was concerned about that, but need not have worried at all, cos these guys know their stuff!  They cut a big chink out of one side of the tree.  They laid a pile of the big trunk pieces down to cushion the fall of that huge trunk.  Then Aaron cut around part of the trunk on the opposite side from the chink, and gave a big push, and the huge, heavy trunk laid down exactly where he wanted it to go.  I took a picture as it fell and you can see the saw dust flying up from the impact of all that weight.

Exactly where it was supposed to fall.  It was amazing, but they do it every day.  Then a logging truck came with a huge claw and took all the big pieces away.

The base of the old tree is still there and MaChatte and several squirrels have had to look down inside it to see what’s down in there.  It was bad in the center, and I’m glad it is down.  I’ll sit some herb pots on it next spring, in a more sunny back yard.  Life goes on.  Now it can provide food for some bugs and other organisms who will eat at it till it finally goes away, years from now.  I’ll keep pictures of how pretty it was.

I saved one big piece of limb.  Not sure what I’ll do with it, but it will serve some purpose here next summer.

I’m thankful to have a wonderful, safe and caring tree service to be able to do work like this for people in this area.  These guys cleaned up the area, left me no problems here, and were nice people to work with, each and every one.  Thanks to George, Jamie, Aaron and Josh.

They have a Facebook page too, and also do some fantastic looking landscaping.  https://www.facebook.com/cumberlandvalleytreeservicelandscaping?ref=ts&fref=ts