What Goes Up Must Come Down

What goes up must come down.  Be it a quote from Sir Isaac Newton, a physics viewpoint, or a song by Blood, Sweat, and Tears, it is a truism at Sunriver Metal Works today.

What goes up must come down…

What goes up must come down

And so it did this morning.  Very sad to see this ponderosa laying in a heap in the backyard.  We talked at great lengths about whether we really wanted to take it down.  This winter made us realize that having it so close to the house was just a little scary.  The snow bombs alone kept us awake several nights.  When they fell on the snow already 3 feet on the roof, that pretty much determined what we would be doing this spring.

And so it goes.  Not that we don’t have plenty of other trees.  We do.  This particular one served as a bird haven in both winter and summer.  Taking photos and videos of the birds eating from the hanging suet was great fun.  Better to remove the trees before the birds start nesting.

We’re also in the process of redoing our back deck and patio area.  The roots of the tree are wreaking havoc with the steps and potentially the foundation.  That, combined with the wind, snow, and ice factor helped us make our decision.

Three other ponderosas are coming down in our side yard.  One is right by the bedroom, so that’s a no brainer.  The other two are in close proximity to our septic system.  The first year we lived here, the septic system (we thought) was failing.  We found out that the tree roots were totally blocking the pipe to the drain field.  Mike repaired that issue and saved us probably $20,000 (the cost quoted for a new system).

They all came down…

We just watched the last tree come down.  Looking at it standing next to the house, we realize how lucky we are that it never came down.  All the limbs were on the house side of the tree, so it was definitely leaning in the direction of the house.  Something we never noticed when it was standing next to the other tree.

Now comes our part.  We had the tree company chip up all the branches, so all we have left is the trunks.  We just bought a wood splitter yesterday, so Mike can handle those large chunks of wood.  Counting the rings, it looks like they were 100 years old.  So what grew up, did come down.  They looked healthy, but better than having a tree come down on the house.

Not much metal work taking place today.  But, Mike will be back to work in the shop tomorrow.  No rest for the weary!  😉