A TREE-mendous Evening

The weekend after Thanksgiving, I noticed a large crack 2/3 of the way through the trunk of the tree in front of the other half of our duplex. The next Monday, I called the City Arborist (yes, we have a city arborist) and left him a message that I was concerned about the tree. We played phone tag for a few days, but he finally called me back. Our conversation went something like this.

me: I'm really concerned about this tree in front of my house.

him: It's actually in front of your neighbor's house.

me: Yes, I know, but it's badly cracked and it's in front of the other half of my house. I park under it, I walk under it, my friends walk under it. I'm concerned that it's going to fall and someone's going to get hurt.

him: Yes, it's on our dangerous trees list, we have to get through some other trees before we get to it, and the sidewalk has to be fixed (the tree roots have messed up the sidewalk) also. (That part made no sense, why do you have to fix the sidewalk to cut down a tree?) If I were you, I'd back my car up. (That really threw me- Aaron's cousin was nearly killed and is now in a wheelchair because a tree fell on her on a beautiful summer day, it was a freak accident, but this tree was designated as dangerous and they won't take it down???)

me: Okay. Thanks. (WTF?)

So, for the past few weeks, I've avoided the crap out of the tree, not parked under it, and told all my friends to cross the street when they walk their dogs by it.

You may have heard on your national news or weather channel about an ice storm affecting the mid-Atlantic states today. Well, we've been getting slammed with heavy freezing rain all afternoon. Tonight, Aaron and I were on our way to the store about 7:00, and I noticed my neighbor on the other side (not the other half of the house) had parked his car under the tree, which was covered with ice, but not leaning or anything. So, I went over and told him that the tree was cracked, told him the story about the city, and advised him to move his car (he's been out of town for a few weeks, so I hadn't seen him to tell him the tree story yet). He told me that he'd had a really bad day, he'd lost his wallet and spent the whole day trying to get new cards and a new driver's license, the last thing he needs is a tree crushing his car. So, he moved the car, Aaron and I went to the store, and I didn't think too much of it.

About 9:00, we came back from our errands, and as we drove down the street, Aaron started laughing. Sure enough, the tree was down (it fortunately fell in the middle of the street, not damaging any property, hurting anyone, or taking down any power lines). When we went inside, we had a message from our neighbor letting us know that the tree fell about 15 minutes after he moved the car, so thanks a lot! The city came by about half an hour ago and dragged it off. Sorry for the crappy pictures, it's dark outside!

Here is the remaining part of the tree-




The last part of the tree being dragged off- (two other huge sections have already been taken away)




A closer view of the above-




We're both going to call the city tomorrow and ask them to take down the rest of the tree, and tell us why the hell that they wouldn't take it down when I called a few weeks ago! I will keep you posted. Keep your fingers crossed that the rest of it doesn't go and take the power lines with it.