A Change in the Landscape

One of the biggest changes we need to make has nothing to do with the actual house construction. We must move our septic system from the back yard to the front due to changes in the building codes. In order to do that, we have to rearrange the entire front yard, which means moving the driveway, tearing down the pump house and taking down several trees. Oh, and before we do that, we have to deal with the well, but that will be the topic for another day.

Another change related to the construction is to remove a big branch from a very large oak tree on the side of the house. We knew the tree was significantly compromised when we bought the house, but we hoped it would recover and live. Our town requires a permit to remove trees, so when the town arborist came to look at the trees slated for removal he also looked at the oak and declared it too far gone to be saved. He actually said that it was dangerous and a hazard to both our house and our neighbor's so, sadly, this tree also had to be removed.

We hired Godley's Tree Service (www.godleystreeservice.com), a three generation family business who does a lot of work in our town. We highly recommend them to do any tree removal or other tree related work you need in Central Florida. There are punch list items they need to finish, but the overall quality of their work was really good.

They arrived on the appointed day (almost 2 hours from when they said they would be there - but hey - in construction lingo, this is right on time) and showed up with more equipment that we have ever seen. They had two cranes, two bobcats, various trucks, a huge chipper (visions of Fargo....) and at least 10 men. Within 20 minutes of arrival the first tree was down. Amazing! Take a look at the before and after photos (they also did some trimming).

The work to take down the big oak tree was much more involved as it had big branches over both our house and our neighbor's house. It was interesting to be in the house and hear the thumps as the branches dropped on the roof as well as the ground. Oh well, I don't think the roof could leak any more than it already does.....

The children from next door were very worried that we were also going to remove the other big oak with the tree house in it. They have visitation rights over the tree house any time they want, so they have a vested interest in this tree. They were visibly relieved when I assured them the tree house tree would not be touched!

The following photos tell the story pretty well. It took over 8 hours to get that big tree down.

Let me know what you think about the size of the photos. Are the small ones too small? Should they all be the medium size? You can use "comment" or just send me an email.