goodbye, old tree

The big tree is gone. They came last Thursday to take it out. The crew showed up at 9:00 in the morning, took down the power and phone lines, and then slowly and carefully backed this baby into the back yard: 

Getting the bucket truck back there was a nail biter, let me tell you. Between the trunk of the tree they had to remove (not in the picture) and the deck, there was not a single inch to spare. 

Then, they started to cut it down:

                                                    

This went on for several hours. It was loud and messy. Since we had no power, I had to go elsewhere with the kids to entertain them and find something to eat. We ended up watching a movie and hanging out at a friend's house until the tree guy called to tell me that the tree was down, the stump was being ground, and they were cleaning up. When we got home, this is what was left of that silver maple tree:

And this:

Also, there was another large pile of firewood in the back yard (way more than I asked for, but that's okay), and yet another pile of large logs by the street that didn't fit in the first truckload. That was one damn big tree! It was tempting to keep this nice big log as a bench:

But we didn't. It probably weighed a ton (no exaggeration) and I don't know how we would have gotten rid of it when we didn't want it anymore. So after the kids posed for a picture, the tree guys hauled it off.

Now we have a lot more sunshine in the back, enough, I hope, for a garden someday, if we can clear out the invasive shrubs and old tree stumps and persistent weeds.

We also have one of these new dome climbers:

Can you believe how big these kids have gotten? They used to be so little! Sorry to get all nostalgic, but  Anya starts kindergarten tomorrow. She's ready. I'm ready. But it might be a little tough for me to leave her at the door.