Goodbye, Sycamore. Hello, Sunshine!
We finally did the dirty deed. The huge sycamore tree dominating our small backyard is gone. Granted, the tree was not diseased, nor a danger. But it snuffed out precious morning light, dropped anthracnose-ey leaves everywhere, and it was simply too big and oddly placed.
The work was done while I was at work, but my fiance Kim was able to photograph and videotape everything. He texted me photos throughout the day, so I could see the progress.
When I first moved in, my friend Cheryl said,
“It would be a sin”
to cut down the ginormous tree in the back. And my mom recently declared,
“You can’t cut down that tree.”
I did appreciate their concern for the tree and all it provides (loveliness, greenery, shade), but every once in a while ya gotta do something selfish. The tree was casting a shadow, literally and figuratively, on my happiness.
The first few cuts on the backyard sycamore
In my mind, I was left with two options– either move to another house or kill the tree. After much mulling and several bids from arborists, I finally went with my gut. After all, we live here and want to be happy here. And my folks just built a house behind ours, so if we move now, we’ll lose out on the closeness that proximity affords. (more…)
