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We finally decided that the time had come to get rid of the huge oak tree in the back yard. This is the oak tree that was dangerously close to the house, and became even more of a concern after we had the carport built. I had hoped that we could keep it, but when it started dropping pretty big limbs (one of which poked a hole in the roof of the carport) and it began showing signs of rot, it had to go. That tree was so massive that it could have taken out half of our house had it fallen in that direction.
Here’s how it looked before they got started on Friday (ten days ago). This picture doesn’t do the tree justice because the leaves were only just starting to bud.
Here’s how it looked in the summer when we were having the carport built.
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This tree towered over our house, and was way more than double the height of the house. Here’s another picture of the tree on the day that they started cutting it down.
But here’s what it looked like with all of its leaves. This picture was taken when we were having the new siding put on the house.
I don’t think I appreciated just how enormous this tree was, and how much it covered the house. They brought their big wood chipper and put all of the limbs through the wood chipper. The trunks of the tree were cut into pieces and put onto the trailer to haul off, and I think it took them three trips to carry the massive trunk pieces away.
They worked an entire day on it, and this much remained.
They came back early on Monday morning to finish cutting down the rest of the trunk and grind the stump. I didn’t get to see this process because Matt was in the hospital. But I snapped some pictures that afternoon when I came home to get a few things for the hospital stay. Here’s the front of the house with the oak tree gone. It looks so bare now above the studio!
And here’s how it looks from the back. That area had been completely taken up by that enormous tree, so I never really realized how big that space was.
We’re either going to pour more concrete there, or I’ll find some smooth pavers that Matt’s wheelchair can travel over easily, so that we can put an outdoor eating area there. Matt is quite excited about having an easily accessible outdoor dining area where we can enjoy our lunches.
The carport never got painted (oops!), so hopefully I can do that this year to finish up the area. Of course, the back of our house will never look nice until we tear down that sunroom and add on. But finishing up the paint on the carport will go a long way to making this end of the back of the house look more cohesive and finished.
But you can see here just how big that area is. There’s plenty of room for a table and some chairs.
It changed the look pretty drastically. And while I was sad to see such a huge oak tree go, I have to say that I feel a whole lot safer now. Until now, every time we’d have a thunderstorm and/or strong winds, I’d just hold my breath wondering if that tree was going to drop a huge branch on the house or the carport. Now when we have thunderstorms and/or strong winds, I can rest a bit easier. The total cost for that peace of mind came to $4500, and that included the $500 to grind the stump to about 12 inches below the surface of the soil. It wasn’t cheap, but I think it’s well worth the price.
On another note, I wanted to tell y’all that we have signed Matt up for home health care, which means that they will send a nurse out to check on him twice a week (so that we can hopefully head off any future sicknesses and avoid any future hospital stays), and they’ll also send a physical therapist to work with him twice a week.
I foresee this taking some pressure off of me in the future (since I will no longer have to be nurse or physical therapist for him), but while we’re trying to figure out schedules and how to work my schedule around them, and what part I’ll need to play in all of this, my posting schedule on the blog will probably be quite sporadic. I generally try to post by 11:00am on days that I’m going to post, but I’ve been working on this post since 8:00am (they came this morning to do all of the intake information and initial exam), and now noon has come and gone and I’m still working on it. 😀
So until we get things figured out, you may see posts from me at 7:00am, or 3:00pm, or even 11:00pm. I just have no idea what to expect. If you haven’t already, you can sign up below to get notifications in your email inbox every time I post something new. Hopefully we can figure out a regular schedule soon.