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Tree removal

pdplot

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A day of soaking rain yesterday, a little wind and bang - another tree fell down in my backyard. We've lost 5 so far. Luckily, all were away from the house but we have 5 or 6 large maples that could hit the house and though we have insurance, I don't want to have our roof smashed in with water pouring into our bedroom so tomorrow I'm calling a couple of tree people but I know it's going to cost big bucks - maybe Ten grand, I dunno. It may be time to leave this house but where do we go with 4 cars and a houseful of stuff we can't get rid of? No one wants fine china and silverware, most of which we never use. We've been in this house since 1982 - the longest we've lived anywhere. I also have the world's largest collection of nuts and bolts, odds and ends of scrap metal pieces, a ring compressor I'll never use, ditto a spring compressor, a complete darkroom, tape recording equipment a Singer sewing machine (never used) and 35 old golf clubs. You spend a lifetime accumulating stuff but there comes a time when it all must go.
 
I get everything you said, it’s a harsh reality. We had a derecho go thru Aug 10 that took down 10 big trees in 30 minutes on our small 50’x196’ lot. Yep, about 10k to take them down, tree guys just finished. I just finished fence Saturday with new posts, pickets are unavailable since nearly everyone in town who had a fence lost it so we scavenged pickets from trash on curbs to finally get my dog his yard back. Pile of trash on curb picked up yesterday so we’re pretty much done with cleanup. Our street was lined with shade trees and only two are left. Barren. Woods I took my dog to every morning are impassable and they are still cleaning up streets so cleanup there could be forever. Kinda depressing.


I’ve got a garage full of bits accumulated since 1980 and a TR sitting with the block on the work bench ready to go back together. It was going to go back together before but cleanup and repairs got in the way. Plus the accumulation of junk all precious to me but worthless as they sit. I try not to collect stuff after seeing my parents wonderful collection of antiques go for next to nothing in auction. Their joy was in collecting stuff, my joy is using my stuff, not it’s value to others.


We thought of moving, this town will never be the same in my lifetime. Certainly there are more beautiful places than Cedar Rapids Iowa, I’d be gone in a flash but it's home to my wife so looks like we're staying put.


Moving forward today I’m going to start to put the engine back together. Scary as it’s the first time I’ve done this but my motivation is the grin I get every time I start it. Motivation to finish is two fold, get it done before it gets colder and the delivery of a new van in Feb to replace the VW camper. I can't move but I can go drive around, at least in states that allow it. Being cooped up makes us all a little crazy.
 
I've "The Sword of Damocles" over our home, a 60~70 foot oak I should have cut down as soon as we moved into the place in 1985. Had another one fall in 2012, smashed my '65 Alfa GT Junior's top. Totaled it.

Move? Out of the question. Two or three generations of "stuff" and all the auto parts are ballast enough to hold this place down through a hurricane. And the cost of a moving company would eat the money we would sell the place for!
 
Tree guy came today. Said trees in question were healthy and not likely to fall although a limb or two might come off. The trees that did fall in the back lot were dead. I hope he's right. I'll call my yard guy to cut up the tee that did fall the other day. At least I'll get some firewood out of it.
 
Sounds like you have an honest tree guy. Some may have said "Yes boss I will get them down tomorrow" That will be $*******.**

David
 
Sounds like you have an honest tree guy. Some may have said "Yes boss I will get them down tomorrow" That will be $*******.**

David

+1 we have a large Ash tree in the backyard that has emerald ash borer. It gets inoculated every 2 years to stop the progress. Not cheap but cheaper than removing it and I really love the tree. However I mention this because I actually get a lot of peace of mind by having a proper arborist check the trees annually (we usually get pruning of the cedars in off years as well as trimming dead branches.)
 
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