Timber!

Well, after a couple of years of watching the largest birch tree in our front yard die a slow death, we finally had to admit it was time to take it down. The original landscaping featured a cluster of three lovely paper bark birches at the side of our yard. Last year, we lost the smallest of the three. We're down to one now. It's anyone's guess how long it'll make it.

A year ago, we had a tree service come out and look at our trees. Branches were dying at an alarming rate, and pruning was constant. They told us our trees were infested with the Birch Bark Beetle, which, once they tunnel into the tree, means certain death. It seems that when Nike brought in their multitudes of birch trees to landscape their Beaverton HQ property, they imported the beetle along with the trees. Since then, they've been systematically spreading across the metropolitan area, and finally reached us.

In typical Larry fashion, there was no need to hire a tree removal service. This was a job we could handle ourselves. So, out we all headed to the front yard, where Larry had everything ready to go. He'd pruned the branches, tied a rope to the trunk, and had chain saw in hand. The girls were to wait for his signal, then pull on the rope. My bad shoulder relegated me to camera duty...



Larry cut the requisite wedge, we waited for the lean...



Suddenly, the tree was on the ground - right where Larry intended for it to go.



We'll have plenty of firewood next winter... Now we have to decide what to plant in its place.