let there be light
First off, I’ve got to tell you that I’m not a big trees and forest gloom kind of girl. I prefer open vistas, lots of sky and sun – lots of sun. I’m not sure why I thought buying a house with a huge banyan tree for a neighbor was a good idea but it was a lot smaller 2 years ago. It has grown and grown and recently I realized that it completely crossed our yard, adding lots of gloom and shade. See how those go together for me? I could never live up under big trees, they give me the creeps at night and the lack of light is depressing. Mimi and I once left Vancouver Island a week early because we couldn’t find anywhere to park the RV that wasn’t up under the gloomy trees.
So, I wanted the part over my yard cut back to the wall. It’s not my tree, it actually lives on the wall between two of the neighbors yards but it covers a good portion of the block. It’s really tall, the area is crowded and I didn’t want anyone getting hurt nor did I want to buy my neighbors a new roof. So, I’ve been on a search for an experienced tree guy to cut it back. I found one, through a friend of a friend, that had good references. He lives on the outskirts of the city and has no phone so I called the lady he works for on Thursdays and she had him call me on her phone. He came over and looked at the tree and said it wasn’t a problem, he’d cut it back.
Yesterday was the big day. First off, the exterminators were here in the morning so all the critters had to be taken away and I had to stand guard on the fish ponds. That went well and then Manuel and two helpers came to do the tree. He went up with just a rope and a machete and by the end of the day there is a quarter of that huge tree missing and sun has returned to my yard. It does look a bit odd with a chunk out of it, kind of like a pie chart. It will leaf out again though and I don’t really care anyway because… I have light again!
I took a bunch of pictures, the one that I didn’t remember to take was a shot of the whole tree before the cutting. Oh well, just fill in the blanks.
The first cuts with the machete
One down
farther out
a pause to clear up
moving higher
the big one starts to fall
lowering it carefully
Mimi surveys the missing chunk of tree
They chopped all the wood into fire sized pieces, loaded all the branches into our truck and Mimi drove it to their pueblo. They dropped off the firewood at Manuel’s grandmother’s house so she can make tamales and dumped the rest near his house. It was a big job and I was very happy with how careful they were and how efficient, plus they cleaned up really well. Total cost? $2500 pesos or a little less than $190US. Not cheap but a job well done.
Work begins on our yard after Carnival, the rock is coming out, more planters are being built and I hope to have a yard I can putter in with more space (and now more light) for plants.
Let there be light and after some time and a few pesos, there was ! Another miracle……..gardens next , whoopee!!
Very Cool that you found someone that did such a great job! It looks awesome and you are correct – much brighter and open. Plus I bet the pool will be a bit cleaner.
Well Done
Debi
Really nice! I am like you, I need light. Whenever I used to look at houses or apartments to rent or buy, the first thing I did was look out the windows!
I am looking forward to seeing what you do back there, I know the rock paving wasn’t right for you, but what is the plan??
What a difference! How soon before it all grows back?
uh huh, much better – Good Job guys.
Oh, I can completely relate to the joy of being freed from the darkness. We just had a bunch of tree work done at our new place, including the removal of 5 large trees. Three very BIG ones remain, and there’s still plenty of shade, so you can imagine what it was like with eight!
PS – I think it’s amazing that he did all of that with a machete!
I guess I must be a weirdo. I love trees and have a hard time sitting in the direct sun. I don’t like gloom but I do like dappled sunlight. Looks like you got the best of both… still a tree there but now sunlight too. Can’t wait to see what you do with your garden.
LOL This post reminded me of last summer. My next door neighbor (an Italian man in his 80’s) decided to trim his tree.I think it was causing more shade than he wanted on his tomato garden. He climbed the tree with a chainsaw and spent the day buzzing away. We had to go out because it was too noisy to sit out and in the house we heard the loud thumping of huge branches hitting his shed and the ground. I kept running to the door certain that the old guy was still alive. When we came home every branch on the tree was gone. Now there is just a 30 foot trunk. It’s not pretty at all.
I think there are forest people and savannah people and I’m the latter. I grew up on the coast in the semi-desert of southern California and I like living at the edge or at least where I can see off to the horizon. I feel kind of trapped by too many trees and overgrowth or mountains that are too close. Add in that I’m addicted to sun and you’ve got a happy desert dweller or someone who at least needs a clear view of the sky. It’s one reason that many tropical places would not make me happy, too much jungle and too high a canopy. Cities can be like a forest at times, lots of high buildings and narrow streets. I guess that is why I like Mérida, flat and low and with lots of sky. Clearly I come from the human line that sat around on the plains and hoped the lions were sleeping and that someone would run down a gazelle and not from the line that swung through the trees and ate birds and fruit.
“Swinging through the trees eating birds and fruit” hmmm…. sounds like one of our family reunions. ;^)
I think that was cheap for all the skilled hard work & cleanup. A bargain in fact.