Back in November, I noted that some branches on a nice, big pine tree by our house in Lake Riverside were looking a little yellowish. My worst fears were realized when we got out to the house after Christmas and these branches were clearly dead. You can see the dead needles on the right side of the right hand tree.

With the tree right next to the house and partially over the roof, I knew that I needed professional help. I had some hope that the tree might be saved, and if that wasn’t possible, I needed a tree service to take it down safely. Consulting with our local Facebook group led me to Cherry Tree Service. Chris and Roger came out and sadly confirmed my fears that the tree needed to come down.

We scheduled the work for January 1st (they are dedicated) and they showed up in the morning with their equipment. They set up quickly and got to work. Here is a time-lapse video of the tree removal.

Reduced to branches and small chunks, the tree was removed. Looking at part of the trunk, you could see how fast the tree grew when it was young and how that growth slowed as the tree became larger.

Within about an hour, the tree was nothing but a stump.

Chris has a remarkable stump removing machine that quickly ground the stump into mulch.

After a couple of hours of work, all that was left was a mound of mulch and dirt.

It was almost as if the tree had never been there. We will miss its shade and the character it provided to the property.