TIMBER!!!

As I've mentioned previously, we have a giant dead tree in our backyard. We didn't give it much thought when we moved in, but during Hurricane Irene the terrible thought of a tree crashing down on our house forced us to sleep in our living room and has driven fear into our hearts every time there's a drop of rain in the forecast.

Like any rational person the hubs suggested that he could get a few of his "buddies" to "take down the tree." Seriously, it's like sometimes he doesn't even know me. Like I'm really going to let a bunch of his "buddies" come to our house, use chainsaws, and have the ability to leave us homeless if they "mess up" and drop a tree on our house. Trees on houses are not cool!

The next logical sense was to hire individuals who actually take trees down for a living.

Of course, there was one slight problem and I was the problem.

How do I put this delicately?

I

am

a

tree

hugger!!!

I drive a Prius, use reusuable grocery bags, re-cycle, take mass transit to work, avoid bottled water, and have 800 additional quasi annoying qualities because I want to "save the environment." Having a tree cut down on my watch drove a stake through my heart. Really, I pushed it off for as long as I could, but I knew deep down inside that the tree had to come down.

So before the "guys" came over to take the tree down, I had one last heart to heart with one of God's most beautiful and life giving creatures. Okay, that was probably a bit much. But I did hug the tree to prove my self-proclaimed "tree hugger" status.

The guys who came to our house were comprised of a three man team. Really, I didn't think it would take so many people to take down one tree, but what do I know about such things. The one guy was all over the tree. I swear, within 60 seconds of being in our backyard he was climbing up the tree like Spiderman. I was thoroughly impressed!

I retreated inside so that the tree guys couldn't see me cry as they cut down the tree.

Each and every time a cut piece hit the ground the house shook, I flinched, and the pups went nuts. I calmed myself by making scones.

Seriously, these guys knew what they were doing. The two guys on the ground were responsible for hooking up a series of ropes and guiding the various tree limbs down to the ground once they were cut. They placed everything right where they intended for them to go or at least that's how it looked to my untrained eye!

About 90 minutes after starting the process the tree was down, stripped from this earth, and chopped up like old parts at a junkyard. We could have had the crew take the deceased pieces of evidence, but with a fully functioning wood stove in our man cave we knew we would use the wood. The hubs and I were left with two large piles of wood and only one little wood shed. We decided that first and foremost we would cut up the small pieces of wood and store those. I actually suggested not cutting up the huge pieces of the trunk and using them as mini patio tables for our next few summer parties. We'll see how that goes next summer.

In the meantime, the hubs was far too excited to buy an ax and get his Paul Bunyan impression on. I think he needs to add a flannel shirt or else it's like he's not even trying.

The hubs actually presented me with a peace offering knowing that I was really upset by having to have a tree cut down. We're going to plant a smaller tree in our front yard next spring. It'll be kind of nice to say, "we planted that tree our first spring in this house" and get all sappy like that. Any suggestions on what to plant?