How Guys With Backhoes Take Down Trees

We've been having issues with trees of late. We have dead ash trees, thanks to the emerald ash borer, and we have blue spruce trees that are over 30 years old that are dying from a fungus.

The ash borer came over from Asia; the fungus showed up during a drought around 2012. One of the blue spruce's blew over last winter and I have been concerned about the two remaining on the bedroom side of the house ever since.

I'm not excited about the idea of waking up to find a tree in bed with me.

One of the blue spruces was leaning precariously. When the ground was wet and the wind would blow, I would sit at the window and watch as the ground at the roots raised up, then sucked the tree back down a bit.

My husband had asked a friend back in February to remove the trees but he has yet to show up. Last week, husband took matters into his own hands with one of the trees. I still have one to worry about, but at least this one that was really leaning is no longer a worry.

The tree was already leaning about this much, with that hump at the ground where the roots were coming up.

A few pushes wouldn't do, though. The ground is too dry at the moment.

A little digging to loosen the dirt around the roots proved helpful.

A big push.

Ally oop!

Poor tree is on the ground.

I really hate losing these trees. They were once quite beautiful. We sprayed with fungicide when we realized they were "sick," but once that fungus is on a tree there is little hope of saving it. All of our lovely blue spruces will eventually be gone. We only have two left now.