We Said Goodbye To An Old Friend

We had a rather small tree about 12 or 15 feet from the back of the house when we moved in.  It was a fairly pleasant little tree - fast growing and innocuous ... at first.  I've looked it up and I think it fell into the category that said:  Silver Maple, Soft Maple, River Maple, Silverleaf Maple, White Maple.  Which one it was, I don't know for sure but it was one of those.

I also noted that on this particular website it had garnered 11 positives, 6 neutrals, and 14 negatives. Unfortunately we were intimately familiar with every single negative. They included millions of falling helicopters in the Spring and broken, fallen branches with every stiff breeze and it didn't help that the ideal location for our pond so we could easily see if from the house was directly under Mr. Messy Maple.  

In the past few years we have had large roof-threatening limbs removed  and the tree didn't heal well after the second one.  It was apparent that it was starting to rot and had to go.  So two weeks ago we had Loggins A-1 Tree Service do the deed.  

Here they are just getting started.  That small branch laying near the bottom is the closest any branch or twig came to the pond or the house and it wasn't close at all.

They maneuvered their trucks and equipment very carefully and skillfully, never touching even the smallest garden ornaments.

The minute a branch or limb was lowered to the ground by the crane operator, the guys on the ground started processing it.

The crane operator held the limb securely while the guy in the bucket, the business owner's son, cut the limb.

I honestly could hardly believe how high that bucket reached and how comfortable young Mr. Loggins seemed to be while working from it.
 
As I mentioned, the limbs were very carefully lowered to the ground leaving no gouges or scars on the lawn.

 And the members of the crew on the ground got right to work.

Most limbs and branches went right into the chipper.


But of course the larger logs required special handling.  (More on that later.)


Young Mr. Loggins did almost all the cutting.

 

 Including big cutting jobs that looked REALLY hard and unpleasant.

 

 And here are the larger logs being carefully loaded.

And finally that huge stump was ready to go.


As it's interior became visible, it was clear that it was only a matter of time until that tree came down in a dangerous and unplanned way.
 
 Now the rest of the logs were loaded.

And we could truly say goodbye to our tree.

Finally the stump grinder came in to finish the job.

And with some assistance from this hard-working team,
 
 We were left with the following:

I can't say enough about this hard-working and coordinated team.  There were four of them and every man worked every minute.  Each seemed to anticipate what was needed and nobody was afraid to jump in and do it.  Including the bosses son.  I really believe I saw him do every single job at one time or another.  It's not often that the on-site boss is the hardest working man in the crew but that's how it looked to me.

And the tree?  Well, we'll miss the shade.  But we won't miss the multitude of surface roots, the helicopter showers, the late falling leaves, or the many broken branches.

All in all it was a fond farewell.

Jared Michael - Through The Years

Today is Jared's 17th birthday.  He is our fourth grandchild and our third grandson.

Here is is, pictorially, through the years.

Jared is a wonderful kid who has had many interests over the years.

He's fashion conscious and always has been.

 He's a hard worker and always has been.

In fact, he's spent many hot summer days over the last two years de-tasseling corn.

He played the cello for many years and was really good at it.

He enjoys video games and just recently bought himself a new flat screen with his de-tasseling money.  (Unfortunately I don't have a picture of it.)


He loves his cousins - young and old alike.

 And animals.


And his sister.

And brother.  Here they are doing a rap parody together.  They're incredibly good at it.

And he loves to clown around with both Emily and Ryan.


And most of all he loves his family.  Here's they are early one morning before heading back to Nebraska after a Christmas visit.

All in all Jared is one of the greatest kids you could ever meet and a wonderful grandson.  We're proud of him, we love him, and we're wishing him his best birthday ever but one only half has great as the many, many more to come.