The Great Tulip Tree Adventure

   Back last fall, when Hurricane Irene loomed, Hubs and I were worried about this one big tree at the top of our driveway. We thought it was perhaps unstable, and might not make it through the storm. You see, it's a big, old tree sitting on a small wet hill. With all the rain we had had, Hubs was unsure about it lasting. He was very relieved that the tree did, indeed, make it through the storm. But ever since, he has watched it.

   He says that last week, when we had a really windy day, he saw it move. That decided it, he called the guy back, who had come to look at it and give him an estimate. So a few days ago, the Tulip tree was taken down.

   Now, the man who did it turns out to be a lunatic. See, taking trees down is not his main job. He does it for fun, and the money doesn't hurt. He actually climbs up the trees and takes them down piece by piece. Our tree posed a problem, in that it was close to the road, and near the power lines to our house.

   Hubs wanted me to go outside and take photos of this guy up in our tree. The tree had to be 40 feet tall. Here are two photos of the tree, the bottom and then the top. It was too tall to get all in one photo!

  
   These photos were taken after his first visit, to cut off some of the branches. See, on the bottom photo, on the right fork of the tree? This lunatic climbed up to the second, yes, the second, fork above that!

   This is him at the first fork junction... ^

   And that ^ is him up on the left fork. WAAAY up in the sky. It was cool watching him do his thing. He had his son helping him, and he was all tied off with ropes for safety. It took them a long time to get all set up, with the ropes. One of the big branches he cut the first day, he had tied off so it hung there after it was cut, and wouldn't fall to the ground until it was lowered. It was awesome to watch.  It still blows my mind, that this guy does this FOR FUN! He enjoys it! I guess it does take all kinds...