Laowai

Our big old elm tree was removed today. What a big job and what skill those tree guys have – I was amazed. Here are a couple bad photos from my phone:

They worked a long day yesterday just removing branches. Today they started by taking down chunks of the trunk. They used a pulley system to guide the huge pieces down to the ground but they would still bang into the trunk and make an awfully loud and low boom. I wonder what that would feel like if you were the guy on top of the tree? The trunk was probably the height of our house when they made a big wedge at the base of the tree and got it ready to fall in a precise spot in our yard. Missing the other trees and the garden and of course the house. And then it was time for it to come down, but it didn’t come easily. They made their cuts oposite the wedge and they had a rope attached to the top. They had to hook the rope to a ratcheting thing on their truck and it took forever before it fell. I was sitting on the edge of my seat looking down from the bathroom window. What a huge mass of wood! I think it shook the house when it came down. I could see it was a difficult job and the guys gave each other fist bumps after it fell.

Here’s Bea on the massive stump – which will be removed soon:

When it came down it made a big hole in the yard. It’s bigger than it looks in this photo:

Here’s the before photo that I took the other day:

And here’s our yard without its biggest tree:

Now the big pieces of the tree are all piled up by the road waiting to be picked up. It looks like such a huge amount of wood!

I’m sad to see that big grandfather of a tree go.

Luckily these little gems just came out to cheer me up: