If a tree does not fall on your property, it does not make a sound.

Screw-ups and false starts are great fuel for the blog. Right? Then, consider this my gift to you. It allows you to read along, while sitting comfortably on your couch, ensconced in a blanket, maybe a cup of coffee or a glass of wine in hand, and laugh while thinking, "Those poor bastards… glad that's not me."

So, I drove Tate to school this morning and we decided to go past the house on our way there. Lo and behold, out front was a ginormous, green bucket truck, a chipper/shredder and a dump truck all emblazoned with the tree services logo. Yeah!!!! They are here. They showed up. They are going to do their job. It was a beautiful sight. I was so excited!! I dropped Tate at school, stopped by the bagel shop to grab a bagel for myself and a muffin for Simone and headed back home to eat. We drove past the house again and the guys were unloading ropes… a good sign.

During breakfast, I decided that when we were done, Simone and I would walk up to the house and snap a few photos of the trees coming down. As breakfast wrapped up, Dave walked through the front door and just moments later the big, green tree service truck drove past… away from the house, the trees and the work. "What's going on?"

Turns out the tree service was only going to take down a huge pine tree at the side of the house. This tree straddles our property and our neighbor's property too. Many of it's branches rest comfortably on the roof of our neighbor's garage. Access to this tree is down the very narrow side yard, with probably only 7 feet of work space before you bump into our house on one side or the neighbor's aforementioned garage on the other, not to mention the fence that blocks a lot of that access area. Did I say that this tree is also really huge. Really huge. And tall. The demo company felt that their equipment could handle felling all the trees on the property, except for this one. So they hired the tree experts with the big green trucks to handle this one pine.

{super tight work area}

Well, big, green truck tree service quoted the price for the tree to come down AFTER the house had been demolished. The ever-screwing-up demo company did not know this, and thought that Big Pine would come down BEFORE the house was leveled. Apparently, the tree could come down today, but it would require more climbing from the tree guys, meaning more time, really meaning more money. After a conversation with their supervisor, the men with the big, green trucks packed up and headed for other trees that needed to be felled.

This was sad.