Powell · July 2026
A cedar in the back yard had grown in tight against the house. It came out in a day, along with a fir off the back that had reached the roof and gutters, and a light trim on a dogwood nearby.
From the ground the cedar looked sound. Standing, green, nothing about it asking for attention. It split when it landed and opened along its length and showed a core that had rotted out well before we got there.
That is the part worth stopping on. A tree carries its failure on the inside, and bark and a full canopy will hide it right up to the day something gives. Nothing visible from a window would have said this core was rotten.
A power line crosses the property, which set the order of the work and where the lift could sit. The lift kept every cut controlled and brought the wood down where we put it rather than where it wanted to go — which matters more, not less, when the trunk is not as solid as it looks. The brush went through the chipper on site and all the hardwood was hauled off.
If you have a tree close to the house and no particular reason to worry about it, that is roughly where this one stood. Look at the trunks rather than the leaves, and get someone out while it is still a quote and not an emergency.