Good-Bye Old Tree

Last summer the tree across the street was marked for removal - we loose so many of our grand old elm trees due to Dutch Elm Disease.  Although loosing trees makes us sad, the tree removal process is also very exciting.  One morning last week we noticed that the city workers were putting 'No Parking' on the street signs around the tree.

We had the perfect vantage point - the tree is directly in front of our window;

After the signs were put up the snow plow removed all the snow banks from the area around the tree.  Then, for the rest of the morning there was no further activity.  We waited. We had lunch and then I closed the blind so it was darker for the toddlers' nap time.  As the children slept I caught up on some paperwork and answered a few emails -- then I heard the trucks.

Seriously, why do they always come at nap time?  Who do I complain to about this?  I paced back and forth listening to the chain saws and impatiently waiting for the children to wake.  As soon as the children began to stir I flung open the blind and sent all the children to the window as I put away the cots.  The baby stayed in his crib - standing there he could see over the children at the window.

All the branches had already been removed from the tree and they had cut a notch from the trunk;

They tied a rope to the tree as a safety measure so it would not fall on the nearby houses.  Then, one more cut and the trunk began to fall;

CRASH! Wow, that was loud and the whole house shook.

As the workers began cutting the tree trunk into smaller pieces one of the children started complaining about the 'bad pirate' wrecking the tree.  I was confused until they pointed to this worker's helmet;

:-)

The tractor then picked up the trunk pieces;

And put them in a big dump truck;

It was all very interesting and kept the children engaged for the remainder of the afternoon.  I printed off a series of pictures of the tree removal process and used them to create sequence cards.  The children have enjoyed looking at them and reliving the excitement of the day.