The Tree Limb is Finally Gone - Cleanup Has Been Completed

You might remember the big storm we had a few weeks ago that deposited a branch of my neighbor's Silver Maple onto and into my upper back yard, damaging two trees of mine and making a huge mess. That happened on the 19th of July. Our neighbor was really decent about the whole thing - paid for it to be removed professionally so that the fencing was left undamaged and our trees got minimal damage as well. That removal finally happened last week, and DH was on a ladder with his chain saw Sunday morning trimming off damaged limbs. It was really now or never - Renaissance Festival starts this coming weekend and our Sundays are spent there until the Fest ends on October 2nd. 

Here's the Mulberry tree now that it's been trimmed. It 
has room to breathe again, and even though it lost a lot 
of branches, I think it will pull through just fine. 

The fallen limb had been braced up with lumber and lots of nails by Chris (our next door neighbor) and DH. Almost all of the wood was from Chris, so I need to get that returned to him. We had a single piece of our pressure-treated lumber that DH used, which is now back in the garage. So ... DH was up on a ladder with the chain saw, then he cut up the branches he trimmed off, and we cleaned up. 

The Crab Apple tree also got a trim, some 
of the branches on the far side had some damage. 
It just missed getting slammed by the large 
branch that fell from Chris' tree, so it was quite 
lucky. The lumber in the background is the single 
piece that we had provided. It's now back in the 
garage. 

We loaded up the pickup with all of the cut branches and limbs and drove everything over to the local compost. It turned into a 2-3 hour job, but it looks 1000% better now. The upper back yard is once again our own. Our Mulberry tree took a beating, but I like how it looks now that it's been trimmed. The Crab Apple tree escaped most damage by about a foot or two - rather amazing - but the baby Crab Apple had a shock, and we're not sure if it will make it through the winter. 

We had a huge pile of brush and branches to take 
to the compost center. Fortunately we have the 
pickup truck, and the compost is actually quite 
close to us, so we just piled everything into the back 
of the truck, used some bungee cords to keep things 
under control for the drive, and off we went. 

Nonetheless, we have reclaimed our yard once again. After we had returned, we settled onto the patio for a relaxing couple of hours with drinks and hummingbirds. Despite the fact that the garden has been a disappointment this year (insects and moles - it's NOT been a good year for our flowers), it's still a welcome haven from the rat race of our daily lives. So, all things considered, we had an excellent Sunday and are ready to jump back into the work week. Only a bit over two weeks until Sharon arrives, and I have LOTS still to do inside, although the house is starting to look pretty good. 

Just a reminder of what came down into the yard on the 
night of the 18th of July. This single huge branch broke off 
Chris's huge Silver Maple and crashed directly into our 
yard. You can see a bit of the bracing the guys did to keep 
it steady and immobile on the far right side. 

Have an excellent Monday and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini.