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I am a retired English teacher and department head, the mother of three grand mother of four, and have been married to the same man for 52 years. I subscribe to Dr. PM Forni's concept of Civility. I was born in South Philadelphia and grew up in the 'burbs. I love soft pretzels and cheesesteaks, the Phillies, the Eagles, and San Diego. I love being Mom, Aunt Kathy, Nona Kathy, and Teacher. I spend a lot of time in my gardens in the spring and summer, and in the winter I plan what I'm going to plant. I also am an avid reader and photographer.

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Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Men In Trees

This is what I woke up to this morning...

We've been having problems with two of our trees:  a large pin oak in the front of our house and the kwanzan cherry tree in the back. The oak, virtually dead, has been dropping limbs onto the driveway.  We figured it was only a matter of time before one of us received a serious injury, or worse, something would happen to one of our cars (insert rim shot!).   The cherry tree was blocking the sun from the passive solar sunroom and its limbs were reaching way too close to the chimney of our wood-burning stove; it had become a fire hazard and really had to go.

This particular tree surgeon has been a boon to our area as long as I can remember.  His team is knowledgeable, reliable, and makes quick work of the most challenging jobs.  When they pull into the neighborhood, word spreads like wildfire or the Well's Fargo Wagon in The Music Man.  People yell, "Mr. Redmiles is here!  Mr. Redmiles is here!!   Our next door neighbor saw them pull up and hired them to remove a very large and misplaced sycamore, oh, and dead -- did I say dead?  Like a door nail!  

It took them about 2 hours to complete the removal of three trees,  grind the stumps, trim a few healthy trees, and totally clean up.  Amazing!  And they were really tolerant of my running around and taking pictures.

This is the crane in the driveway. ↑↑ The pin oak is directly behind the cab and our neighbor's sycamore is actually to the left of the crane, slightly beyond the pin oak.

See the man up in the tree? ↓↓


By the way, the virus has left us all (the baby was the last to get it) and we're all seemingly on the mend.  (My mouth to God's ear).  Thank you all for your inquiries.

And last, sometime ago Karen featured signs warning area residents that the park across the street from us would be closed on three separate dates due to their culling the herds of deer.  The last date is the 22nd.  The deer seem to know this and have migrated to safety.  About a week ago, before I spooked all of them, thirteen stood not 20' from the sunroom.  This one remained for a short period of time...








15 comments:

Jay said...

It would be a lot of fun to sit there in the sun room and watch deer running around like that.

Sally Wessely said...

I wish I lived near your tree guy. They literally don't grow on trees. (Sorry, I couldn't resist.) We've had a number of trees removed from our property. We had a great guy who did some pretty amazing work after a tree was struck by lightening was threatening to send a huge branch down on our house. To this day, I'll never know who our tree guy was able to get that tree down without doing more damage to the house.

Then, he decided to leave the business. We've had some very shoddy work done by the ones we have hired since he quit. One left such a mess that it took us weeks to clean up what he left behind of the stump he ground. Then he never returned to get huge pieces of wood he left behind.

You are indeed fortunate to have the services of someone who knows what he is doing when it comes to tree removal.

Anonymous said...

I once had a 35 ft cactus removed from my front rocks. Yes, we do not have grass in Arizona. It was quite a show watching that crew do their thing.

Oh Deer..............

Kay said...

It's good to take care of your trees. Our chestnut tree fell last year. Shocked the daylights out of us. Thank goodness it fell away from the house. Good thing your deer had a sixth sense to get to safety.

Purple Flowers said...

My Mother has a good tree service called "Honor Tree Service".
I've been thinking about you. Hope you and your family are on the mend.

Anonymous said...

One of Hubby's co-workers had a large tree go down in the wind yesterday and brush the side of their house. It destroyed their patio grill and patio table and chairs set. I hate seeing trees cut down but there are times when safety HAS to come first.

Di

happyone said...

I love to watch trees being cut down. It really is a science. Funny about the deer, it's like they really are hiding out. I haven't seen many around the lake at all.

Linda Reeder said...

We have a good tree service here too. It's amazing to watch them work. Such skill and effeciency. We've had diseased trees taken down, because it was necessary, but I hate to see trees disappear. Too many neighbors have taken down mature trees just because they were messy.

Tracy said...

Kathy,
Glad you are all on the mend...we are slowly getting there; now I have an infection in my eye, can't wear my contacts and my glasses are not the correct PX so I have a headache and can't see 'right' and my son is coughing...we are trying to get better!

Lena said...

So glad to hear that you are all on the mend! Great photos! we are in need of a tree service, but I the husband thinks he can do it. Still waiting....

We will have to resolve this issue in the spring!

Bilbo said...

A good tree service is a real boon. We had to have both of the huge trees in our front yard taken down in the last two years, and it was a major job. Too bad that grinding out the stumps isn't included in the cost of taking the tree down...

Kimberly said...

Glad to hear everyone is on the mend. We are enjoying a very mild spell here, complete with rare sunshine. That is good for what ails us.

Cheryl said...

Great post Kathy!

I had two trees removed a few years ago and I loved watching the process and taking pictures. I would have been just like you!!

Glad to hear everyone's healthy again.

Were you out gardening on this gorgeous day?

George said...

I'm glad to hear that you and your family are on the mend. Last year our neighbor had to have a tree service at their house, and we got pictures of that excitement as well. We had four deer roaming around our yard last night -- they're protected here in the Glade, so they have no fear.

Anonymous said...

Glad to hear that the virus has finished visiting your family. Sorry to see the old trees go but I guess everyone and everything has its day. I'm sure you will miss seeing them on your landscape.

Now I know where all the deer I used to see last year in my back yard have wandered off to!