Tree removal considerations

This is an IRRESPONSIBLE homeowner’s ignored loaded gun just waiting to kill someone.

Not funny that it’s at my house. I’ve been looking at it for years. Today when I got home I let the dog out and she was running around under it as it blew back and forth like the masts on the “Caine mutiny” in the scene with the terrible storm as the ship was lashed by horrible winds and waves.

Im gonna slice it up this week- more work. It just never stops.

Look around your yard. See trees with a tilt? Bad crotches? Pulpy trunk? Cavities?? Holes where branches used to be?

If you said “yes” to any of those questions, call a tree guy for removal. To ignore dangerous trees is akin to leaving a loaded and cocked revolver on the floor for a child to play with. WHY would you do that? Right, you wouldn’t.

So if you have dangerous trees on your property, it is prudent to have them removed.

​The Boston Globe reported a few years ago that between 700-1,000 people in the US are killed every year by trees- a pathetic situation that we all should know about because there is no reason for someone to be crushed by a tree.

I see articles in the nation’s papers showing pictures of trees that crushed people with the text stating “nobody knows” why the tree fell, but I can usually see from the pictures exactly why the tree fell and killed an 11 year old neighbor, or a family watching fireworks in the town green (both actual examples).

​The nation’s liability laws call these deaths “acts of god” to which I scoff. These deaths are not acts of god, they are crimes of negligence, and the laws need to be changed to reflect this reality.

April 2020 update- new neighbors moved in to a house across the street, and when they did, I pointed out to the new neighbor twice how dangerous the tree in her front yard is. It’s actually two trees that grew as one up to about fifteen feet off the ground. The co-dominant leaders try to overtake the other but can’t as the yearly ring expansion squishes each touching side, compressing the tissue with wounding the result. Tannic acid is sent to the wound staining the bark in the most visible manner a deathly dark brown.. Added to this structural insult is the 20 degree tilt over the lawn and towards the newly-renovated house.

It’s been two or three years now since I first warned her, and the tree is still there. They must have forgotten about my warnings as they play with their newborn child on the lawn in the shade of that potentially murderous tree, having set up red plastic children’s toys below it.

Here is a picture of the tree and a toy. Seeing this scenario when I drive by is absolutely horrifying, and I hope that when it does eventually fall, nobody is home. Predicting timing of tree collapse is like predicting earthquakes or volcanic eruptions, it's impossible to do, but it is an inevitability. One doesn't want to live life with regrets when it comes to life and limb issues.