Felling the Trees

These photos are pretty much self-explanatory, 

but I do have a few comments to make.

Baptist men who are part of a 

Disaster Relief Group and trained to

remove trees came to our rescue.

The G-man is discussing with the groups leader

what trees should come down.

The ones chosen are in danger of falling

on our house.

In all, 13 trees were cut and removed to the roadside

over a two day period.

The man operating the skid-steer loader was able to 

pick up the debris and move it to

the road for eventual pick-up by the county.

We are so thankful for this service because

it would have been extremely expensive 

for us to have hired someone to

remove all these trees.

Just last week the tree service folks who

were hired by the electric power company

that services our area came and 

removed another 20 or so trees that

were in danger of falling on power lines.

Thankfully this beautiful tree beside our patio

is still healthy.

It was not damaged by the fires.

We have close to 20 trees in our immediate yard 

that should be okay.

Moonlight Through the Pines

 These are probably the last shots of 

the full moon shining 

through this stand of pines.

 It makes me very sad to realize

that this lovely little

stand of three trees will

have to be taken down

because of damage by the fires.

There are actually only three trunks

two of the trees are doubles.

I'm saying a prayer for them

and am thankful that I was able 

to enjoy them while I could.

I wish I had raked pines needles away

from the base of them and

maybe they would have stood

a chance of surviving the wildfires.

"... a song of love
Comes as sweet and clear as moonlight through the pines"

Worker Bees

Thankfully the green ribbon means the tree is alive & stays put.

I walked out a few mornings ago to the rumble

of nine trucks driving down our street.

The buzz of the saws could be heard all day.

 From one end of Alele to the other trees 

on the right-of-way are coming down

because they will eventually fall on the power lines.

 Everyone waves to the workers

and this fellow is waving back at me.

We are so thankful they are here.

The job is enormous.

This group came from Houston, but

they have been imported by Asplundi from

all over the country.

One of the many holes left when the trunk & roots completely burned.

Bobcat.

 The mechanical bobcat has been pounding

the foundation of this house all afternoon.

Evidently the foundation is not good enough

to rebuild on and will have to be pounded to bits

and hauled away like the rest of the house.

The retaining wall is behind the bobcat.

 To the left is a burned & felled oak tree

that was probably 100 years old, maybe older.

The mighty oak fell.

Pine tree root ball & extensions.

The fellow in this truck is an arborist from Ohio.

He is going along the power lines as assessing 

the viability of the trees.

One orange line means the tree will be observed

and if it looks like its in danger of falling

on the power lines a second orange line

will be drawn and a crew will come to remove it.

These trees are all over the county.

The effort is massive 

hence so many people coming

from far away to help.