Timber!

Last Thursday the two large pine trees in our front yard lost the battle between them and some very determined men with chainsaws. We had grown increasingly concerned with the possibility of them crashing into our house or otherwise causing massive destruction. Besides the fact that I despised the pine cones, pine needles, horrible pollen and the fact the roots caused our water line to burst, the trees were also beginning to drop large limbs dangerously close to our cars. Here is the first picture of Roberto up in the tree.

Roberto "walked" up the tree with spikes on his feet and held himself up with a "belt." He used a chainsaw to cut the limbs off as he scaled the tree.
Then he cut the tree off in sections and pushed the sections to the ground. You can see the top part is tipping in this picture. Can you tell I was fascinated by this process?

Here's some evidence of the destruction on our front lawn last week. One of the trees was dying while the other was healthy (for the time being). But best they came out together so neither one got lonely, right?

I was surprised by the amount of equipment required to do the job. Dump trucks, trucks with trailers, backhoes, stump grinders, etc.

I was kindly asked to park the Explorer out of harm's way

(up the street). Here is more of the debris littering our yard. I was so glad they cleaned it all up before they left! This was the last shot I got before dashing out for a car appointment (ah, the joys of last minute errands before starting work). I do have to say, our house feels so exposed and close to the street now. Jason and I are going to study trees a little bit and hopefully pick a good, sturdy hardwood to plant in the front yard to give us a little more of a visual barrier. We're open to suggestions!