Timber!!!

One of the big hemlocks in our back yard came down on Friday. When Austin and I were driving home from his Spanish lesson, I received a call from our neighbour, to give me the news. I was pretty worried that the tree might have come down onto our house, and that it will cost a lot to have it removed.

Austin was quite cheerful, and mentioned that, if the tree hadn't come down, we wouldn't have an opportunity to inspect the upper branches and see what was living in the tree. I said it would be sad if birds lost their nest as a result of the tree falling. Austin said, "But, it's natural. And besides, most birds will have flown south for the winter, by now." What an optimist!

Austin was excited to explore the tree, and he brought his leatherman out, so he could use the saw blade to cut off a few branches. He gave Aidan a lesson in how to saw off branches.

The District sent an arborist to inspect the tree. She determined that a fungus had caused wood rot, weakened the tree, so in the heavy winds, it came down. The other big hemlock on our property is not experiencing the same fungus, even though the trees were adjacent to each other. However another arborist (Jesse) determined that our tree has dead wood at the base of the trunk, so that's not a good sign, and he pointed out to Austin and I, how most of the branches, and therefore most of the weight is on the south side of the tree. If the tree is going to fall, it will fall to the south - directly onto our house. Jesse also explained to Austin and I that our hemlock is experiencing "mistletoe," causing additional shoots to grow at the ends of limbs, making them heavier. Jesse pointed out that the tree that fell would have been sheltering our tree from northerly winds, and now our tree is more vulnerable. So, all in all, the situation is not good for our tree, or our pocketbook. Austin left that conversation feeling pretty convinced that the tree has to come down.