Sawing, Grinding and Splitting (and other tree atrocities)

Monday, August 24th started like any other day for the maple tree in our backyard. The sun rose, the birds chirped and the squirrels scurried up and down it's trunk. Little did it know that the majestic plant was living it's last day. It was early in the afternoon when the peaceful scene was torn wide open with the angry growl of chainsaws. The maple did not have a chance. Within two hours all the limbs were removed and being converted into a whitish mulch.

With the ruthless efficiency of an obsessive-compulsive bent on tree genocide, the team from Rick's Tree Service lopped large pieces of the trunk off after trussing them up with rope, a man on the ground paying out the rope to allow the severed segment to have a somewhat controlled fall to the ground. They were nice enough to cut all of the trunk and usable limbs into 18" pieces for splitting into firewood for the new woodstove.

The next day the grinding crew came in to obliterate the stump. The stump grinder sporting a huge rotating disk about the size of a manhole cover spiked with carbide nubs that pulverised the roots and stump to the depth of about 3 feet below ground.

A few days later the log splitter team came in. I enlisted my nephew, Liam (quite possibly the worlds tallest 13 year old) to stack the wood as we split it. The 60' maple yeilded nearly two full cords of firewood. Cremation ceremonies will be held nightly starting in the fall of 2010, after the wood has seasoned. And to all my tree-hugging friends, yes we plan on planting a new tree sometime next spring.