Timber!!!

[BudgetPlan1]

Fascinating to watch the climbers work; the way they use ropes, friction knots and such to keep things moving all while dangling 150ft off the ground.

 

[Sizzle Chest]

That was a big tree!!! Why`d ya have to take it down?

 

[BudgetPlan1]

That was a big tree!!! Why`d ya have to take it down?

I really dont like killing/cutting trees down (or killing anything for that matter...if I see a wolf spider in the house, try to catch him in a cup and release outside) but a few of our oaks are so big they`ve become a potential problem.

This particular tree has been dropping branches and acorns on the house for the last few years, got outta hand this year. Been like living with buckets of gravel being poured on roof each night. Can`t park outside near garage without bushels of acorns bouncing off of cars.

A few years ago in a storm this tree lost a limb that came down exactly perpendicular to roof angle, through the roof, missed everything in attic, came through ceiling in bedroom. Doh!

Now shading the roof so completely moss on roof is becoming an issue. Real bummer killing this tree, probably 100+ years old but too big, too close to house, sewer line to septic and septic tank itself...put off doing it for many years (been here 28 years) but its getting outta hand. Had it trimmed a few times but it came to a point where, sadly, it had to go.

Clean the patio off one day, this is what it looks like the next...and the roof looks the same. Hate paying to have trees removed too...not cheap, 2 Oaks, 2 Cherry trees this time...$8k. I woulda loved too avoid this whole thing but not dealing with it eventually gets more expensive when it starts damaging the house...again.

 

[Stokdgs]

BudgetPlan1 --
Hope you guys are good up there now that the tree is out of the way.. Yeah, it was jacking your house and things too much.. I would have done the same thing.. Big trees near houses never end up good.

I have never seen that variety of Oak before, which is it ?

The Best oaks that grow out here throughout CA are big, huge, full of dark green leaves, California Live Oaks, and if you can get some for firewood, they burn so hot and completely, that there is literally nothing left in the stove.

I love those trees, and cut a few of them one year to make space for the Folsom Outlets, out there in Folsom, CA..I ended up with 13 full cords of seasoned, split, CA Live Oak firewood..

Hope they cut up that oak so you can use it for firewood..
Dan F

 

[BudgetPlan1]

BudgetPlan1 --
Hope you guys are good up there now that the tree is out of the way.. Yeah, it was jacking your house and things too much.. I would have done the same thing.. Big trees near houses never end up good.

I have never seen that variety of Oak before, which is it ?

...

Hope they cut up that oak so you can use it for firewood..
Dan F

It was time for it to go, sadly. Its 1:45am right now and for the first time in months, total silence...nothing banging on roof, pinging off siding and windows...weird.

He might`ve mention it being Red Oak, will have to clarify tomorrow if I remember.

They trucked everything away, sell to timber company...part of the deal. No big deal as we converted fireplace to gas a few years ago although it woulda been a ton of firewood.

Would have taken quite a while to cut & split; 20 years ago woulda been a fun weekend of cutting and splitting with friends ("Chainsaws are fun..."), great way to spend some time outdoors on s nice Fall day, smell of fresh cut wood, etc but those times or gone as well. That`s a young man`s game!

Already enjoying the silence!

 

[Accumulator]

I really dont like killing/cutting trees down (or killing anything for that matter...if I see a wolf spider in the house, try to catch him in a cup and release outside) but a few of our oaks are so big they`ve become a potential problem...

Yeah, we hate taking them down too (and we also save critters/bugs/whatever that get in the house, everything except flies and `skeeters ).

We had to take down a pair of big (two people couldn`t wrap their arms around either of `em) oaks that were threatening the house too...each one cost as much as a new car. Looks like yours was about the same size, I bet its roots *were* gonna be an issue even if the rest of it stayed OK.

I`m with you on this, it`s fascinating to both me and my wife to watch those guys work.

A few years ago in a storm this tree lost a limb that came down exactly perpendicular to roof angle, through the roof, missed everything in attic, came through ceiling in bedroom. Doh!

Oh man, lucky you that it wasn`t worse! That`s the kind of thing we`re still wondering about every time there`s a storm, might have to..sigh..take down a few more before too long.

Also lucky was that they could get their equipment right up to the tree in question. They couldn`t do that for ours, couldn`t get a bucket truck or a crane to within a few hundred yards of `em..took forever.

 

[BudgetPlan1]

Yeah, we hate taking them down too (and we also save critters/bugs/whatever that get in the house, everything except flies and `skeeters ).

I`m more than willing to kill wasps, hornets and yellow jackets too. Bees are relatively benign, leave them alone and they leave you alone, but those other three are meaner than rabid raccoons and I think they like to find people to sting as part of their generally aggressive nature. Yellow Jackets seem to be the meanest.

Oh man, lucky you that it wasn`t worse! That`s the kind of thing we`re still wondering about every time there`s a storm, might have to..sigh..take down a few more before too long.

Gotta love it in the middle of the night when you wake up to a slow cracking/splitting sound and just kinda `duck and cover` until you hear *something* hit the ground/roof.

I don`t even like going on my roof but these guys seem to enjoy it: https://youtu.be/_hl7DQ8xXA8

Big `un: https://youtu.be/nWZvwvn5ZL8

 

[Stokdgs]

It was time for it to go, sadly. Its 1:45am right now and for the first time in months, total silence...nothing banging on roof, pinging off siding and windows...weird.

He might`ve mention it being Red Oak, will have to clarify tomorrow if I remember.

They trucked everything away, sell to timber company...part of the deal. No big deal as we converted fireplace to gas a few years ago although it woulda been a ton of firewood.

Would have taken quite a while to cut & split; 20 years ago woulda been a fun weekend of cutting and splitting with friends ("Chainsaws are fun..."), great way to spend some time outdoors on s nice Fall day, smell of fresh cut wood, etc but those times or gone as well. That`s a young man`s game!

Already enjoying the silence!

BudgetPlan1 ---

Nice that there was a plan to take that oak out and it will probably be made into nice furniture sometime and people will enjoy it..

Yes ! One thing I absolutely Learned about cutting firewood... There is NO Cheap Cord of Firewood - ever -
Lucky for me, I had a few big chainsaws, a really nice gas powered log splitter and lots of racks to hold all this wood...

But none of those accessories were free, were all paid for in sweat or $$, mostly Both, so as you so most correctly said - "That`s a young man`s game!"

The best thing I ever found doing this for all those years was professional lumbermen chisel chain for the saw.. Wow, those chains cut through huge logs like they were nothing.. You had to be careful and be ready to lift up, get off the trigger, etc., before the saw went all the way to the other end too fast...

I would so love to have that new again, Silence you spoke of, now that that Oak is not dropping stuff on your house, etc... ! In that silence, sometimes, I look up at Heaven and wonder how something as beautiful as this moment in this place must be up there... And it was created and placed this way here, by a loving Father and His Son...
Dan F

 

[Accumulator]

Budgetplan1- Heh heh, funny you mentioned wasps, I just caught one in the bathroom and took it outside! (We have an assortment of Bug Catchers.) But yeah, I`m not happy about Yellow Jackets and Hornets, but I`ll usually at least *try* to get `em out in one piece.

I`m OK with heights, but there are some areas of our roof that I wouldn`t try even if my ladders would go up that far.

 

[GearHead_1]

For the most part I too adhere to the catch and release methods. That said, I can’t honestly say that I feel the same about the Black Widows this time of year. Never really see these particular spiders except for a couple of weeks each fall. I’ve found that these spiders don’t like to be steered into a cup and their random webs mean they usually end up on my hand.

 

[Stokdgs]

For the most part I too adhere to the catch and release methods. That said, I can’t honestly say that I feel the same about the Black Widows this time of year. Never really see these particular spiders except for a couple of weeks each fall. I’ve found that these spiders don’t like to be steered into a cup and their random webs mean they usually end up on my hand.

Mi Hermano !
Hope you`re mending up really well..
I have always found black widow spiders in woodpiles outside, and even in loose wood piles in the garage..
They are probably sensing the Fall weather and know they need to get to a warm, dry, place to hatch their zilion eggs..
I have always been able to figure out they are around because their webs are always the strongest, most noisy, when broken, webs out there.. When you hit one with your hand, you instantly know, it it`s a black widow web or not..

I know they are great at killing all those little things that come in or come near their webs, but I still don`t like them around little kids, grandkids, etc..

I was once going out to the garage to get some nice cedar pieces to start up the Insert on a Sunday morning, and a black widow came in with the wood and got me really good..
It made me so sick, I could not make it to Church that day, but after around 10 hours, I felt better..

I have never seen a Brown Recluse Spider out here and hope to never be the recipient of their really strong necrotic venom which usually requires a hospital visit..
Dan F

 

[Sizzle Chest]

OK, perfectly understandable, especially with that history! Geez! And wow, that wasn`t cheap...even with you allowing them to keep it to sell.

 

[BudgetPlan1]

I`m OK with heights, but there are some areas of our roof that I wouldn`t try even if my ladders would go up that far.

I live in a ranch house and still fear the roof. Oddly, never had any issues going skydiving years ago. I think the fear of heights is really the fear of *falling* from heights and since you`re supposed to fall outta the plane, no worries.

For the most part I too adhere to the catch and release methods. That said, I can’t honestly say that I feel the same about the Black Widows this time of year. Never really see these particular spiders except for a couple of weeks each fall. I’ve found that these spiders don’t like to be steered into a cup and their random webs mean they usually end up on my hand.

Black widows, brown recluse...those would be on the "Sorry, you`ve got to go..." list; not messing around with dangerous stuff.

The oaks they took were indeed Red Oaks, they got some really good stuff, 3 or 4 timber trucks full. Finished up today, trimming some big stuff over the pool and dropping another oak that was causing issues over the pool...people tend not to like getting bonked on the head by acorns when in the pool...was becoming a hard hat area.

Pretty much done for this fall, maybe one or two next Spring that can hurt the house. So much more sun, will also help keep down the most that was starting to firm on roof.

Bummer is that as sun rose over the trees, kept the driveway/car wash area in shade up until about 11am...will likely now have sun on driveway by 9am.

Also had an independent PPI done on recent acquisition and all is confirmed healthy.

Busy week...

 

[BudgetPlan1]

OK, perfectly understandable, especially with that history! Geez! And wow, that wasn`t cheap...even with you allowing them to keep it to sell.

Got a bit of a cash discount so came in at $7700 so a pleasant surprise. Was so nice to walk down the driveway tonite and not risk a fall due to thousands of acorns on the ground...like walking on marbles.

 

[Coleroad]

Hi Budgetplan, glad you don`t have to worry about your safety now while in the house.

All those acorns all I could think of was grinding up acorn flour. That`s good stuff. I miss stuff like that.

 

[Accumulator]

Got a bit of a cash discount so came in at $7700 so a pleasant surprise.

Hey, that sounds good to me!

And I found it interesting that you`re OK with skydiving but not with the "better not fall off of this roof..." I bet a lot of the Roof Thing is just a lack of familiarity.

 

[BudgetPlan1]

Hi Budgetplan, glad you don`t have to worry about your safety now while in the house.

All those acorns all I could think of was grinding up acorn flour. That`s good stuff. I miss stuff like that.

It is somewhat of a relief, especially when storms roll thru...no more (or as much) worry. Never heard of acorn flour but I could likely box up 50k acorns end send `em out

Hey, that sounds good to me!

And I found it interesting that you`re OK with skydiving but not with the "better not fall off of this roof..." I bet a lot of the Roof Thing is just a lack of familiarity.

Weird, isn`t it? I do have to climb on the roof on occasion and do it quite carefully even though a relatively low ranch-roof is about as easy as they come.

Wasnt always wary of heights, just seemed to appear one day on a water tower in New Jersey when I was 13 or so. And yet I still find myself compelled to make it to the highest point when we run across observation towers and other chances to climb. Baffling.

 

[Accumulator]

Wasnt always wary of heights, just seemed to appear one day on a water tower in New Jersey when I was 13 or so. And yet I still find myself compelled to make it to the highest point when we run across observation towers and other chances to climb. Baffling.

Heh heh, that`s funny about the Observatoin Towers

I nearly suffered what would`ve been an undoubtedly fatal fall from a great height when I was 14, somehow seemed to reinforce my being OK with such things, not that I take silly chances (though my wife might disagree with that).

 

[rlmccarty2000]

I’ve got a big pine that needs to go. Pines don’t have deep root systems and the bigger they get the more likely they will fall. Plus I’m tired of getting pine straw out of my pool.

I got bit by a brown recluse will stationed in Honduras and it ate a nice section out of my side before the doctors were able to get it under control. I found a northern black widow in my back yard a while back. I was going to get rid of it but it moved along on it’s own. I don’t kill anything unless it will harm me or mine.

 

[Accumulator]

I’ve got a big pine that needs to go. Pines don’t have deep root systems and the bigger they get the more likely they will fall...

Oddly enough, our Pines/evergreens are the ones that have *never* fallen! Even stone-cold-dead they keep standing until I drop `em, while the Cherries and Oaks are the ones that fall.

Plus I’m tired of getting pine straw out of my pool.

I hear that! We have a Larch positioned *right* where all it`s tiny needles end up getting in the house

I got bit by a brown recluse will stationed in Honduras and it ate a nice section out of my side before the doctors were able to get it under control.

Yikes! Shows how seriously we oughta take those little things.

I found a northern black widow in my back yard a while back. I was going to get rid of it but it moved along on it’s own. I don’t kill anything unless it will harm me or mine.

Heh heh,you sound like us.

Although I did have our guy spray some Ground Dwelling Bees, those little things are *nasty* and their surprisingly painful stings result in tissue damage I never would`ve expected (not like you went through though).