Curiosity 79: Taking a tree down

I'm a little late at posting this, but last August, over the course of almost a week, we sadly had to take down a giant Monterey pine that stood in the corner of our lot. I was also a little late realizing I should document the process. But anyway, here are some photos I took, both scrounged from my archives (to show the tree as it once was) and taken once the process kicked in. 

It was quite an undertaking. I don't know just how tall the tree was, but I'd guess 80–100 feet. It was massive in its prime. Now the house, without its eternal shade, is that much warmer, and we have more roof space to add some solar panels. Unfortunately, the tree's removal means the hawks, bats, and owls have had to move elsewhere...

The first few photos are from about 13 years ago, when we rebuilt, showing the old house (that's the pine in the background; in the foreground is a live oak, which is still doing just fine):

The new house in the midst of construction, with the tree standing guard:

The old house in Google Maps (A). You can imagine that the neighbors were happy to see the tree go...

It's funny, but the only photos I can locate of the new (present) house don't include the tree. Well, except this impressionistic one, again from Google Maps, from sometime this year, when the tree was on its last legs (you can see how the house has grown!):

And here are photos I took as the takedown was occurring. The first one here is from a block over. They had already removed most of the lower branches, but a bit of the dead crown remained.

The view from my loft a day or two later:

(I have a nice little video of that top chunk of tree coming loose, but Blogger can't manage to process it...)

The side of the house, as the tree grows ever shorter:

The back of the house and big chunks of tree:

Truck full o' tree:

Wood and sawdust:

We figure the tree was planted when this subdivision went in, in 1953, which would have made it 60 years old. It may have been damaged by pine bark beetles, making for a somewhat shorter-than-average life span—though the internet tells me that 50–60 years is typical for Monterey pines beyond the coastal fog belt. So maybe it had lived out its allotted years. 

We miss the tree, but... cycle of life. We were glad to have its shade, and all the birds and bats it sheltered, for a couple of decades, anyway.