September 4 - Interruption

In early September I noticed a large branch had fallen by the back corner of the cottage. At first I chalked it up to a windstorm or something while I was out of town. But then the crew mentioned some thing about it looked like bugs. So I decided to take a closer look at what had fallen. The base of the rather large birch branch was completely honeycombed. At this point I looked up at where it had fallen and thought “ut oh, it looks like the top of the tree could come down at any time”. Way up toward the top the entire trunk was encircled with the same honeycomb effect. I got on the phone right away to the tree guys and they stopped by to check it out late that same afternoon. Thank goodness they did. I hadn’t thought about it but getting them in to take out this damaged tree as well as a few other standing dead ones would be a LOT cheaper if done BEFORE the back foundation holes were dug. What timing! A day later and I would have had much more outta my pocket. Lucky for me they were able to come out the very next day and remove a total of ten small birch trees.

Just below the bucket you can see how the trunk is completely honeycombed. The tree guys said it was from a woodpecker, not insects. Now if only the top had crashed through the roof I could have gotten insurance to pay for part of the remodel!













Here you can see where the first tree was located in relation to the cottage. You can also see that the rather large truck is right parked right where the foundation hole was about to be dug.