I will get a few pics of the tree and post up. Me and that tree have a history. I can remember when this tree was only about 8 or 10 inchs dia. Back in 1974, we had a huge outbreaks of tornados that destroyed homes, lifes, and blew down millions of trees. The property my house sits on now was one of those places that had large amounts of very big timber that was uprooted by those tornados. Whitepines that took 3 people to reach around. Dad got the job of clearing all the timber. We logged there all summer using a Dexter tractor with a winch and a small d2 dozer. Land in the area was extremely steep and rocky, hard for even a dozer to climb up. As things normally go, the dozer broke about half way down the side of the mountain, couldnt get to it with anything. A local wrecker service had a very large 3axle wrecker. Dad got him to come and winch the dozer back to the top of the mountain where we could actually work to fix it. Now that big wrecker was strong, but the winch and weight of the dozer would just pull the wrecker backwards. So the ideal of just hooking the front of the wrecker to a tree to hold it in place was just a natual ideal. Well, back then people didnt use straps, they used chains and choker cables. That choker cable cut into the tree peeling off the bark. That tree is the very tree now in my front yard.
I bought my brother and sisters parts of the house and moved into it in 1999. Dad passed away on March 21, 1999, I guess that is why I am thinking about all of this now. Tree was pretty big then, but it was swell butted and big black ants had made a home inside. The tree was certainly showing signs of decline. I started mulching with hardwood bark, basicly restoreing the lost forest floor, and the tree started healing itself. The big scars almost completely healed up. Then came the lighting strike. I dont know of anything I could have done to try and save that tree after that. I tried selective trimming removing just the limbs that where obviously dead and dieing. Made the tree look better, but didnt fix the problem. Lately, we have had to remove several large limbs that have broken out of the tree. There is a large fork about 20-30ft up that looks like it could break out any day. Thats the one that will take out my truck. I keep full coverage on the truck, LOL, and I dont park there if there is even a hint of a storm coming. What makes this tree so hard to get down is not the actual cutting and falling, it everything around it. No one wants to fall a tree on their house, or shop or shed, but they can all be replaced. It is the other trees around the one your cutting that are hard to replace. 12in dogwoods dont just grow over night. Neither do Hickory's and then there are the wife's litttle pin oak she grew from a acorn. I'll never hear the end if I mash that scraggly thing. Did I mention its a pain to mow around too.
I have one direction only to fall this tree that wont damage anything. This makes this a two person falling job because you need one sawing and one pulling. I have plenty of long cable to tie into the top of the tree. If it ever stops raining and I can scrounge up a little help with a little sense, I'll take that tree down. Would like to have a climber that could remove a few limbs just to mitigate any damage to surrounding trees, but so far that hasnt been in the cards. Cant help it, I cant pay a tree service the big bucks they would want for 30 minutes of work, pinoak be damn, if I mash it, it gets mashed.