Goodbye to a tree

Yesterday we noticed that a big branch in our backyard tree has snapped off and is snagged, waiting for a good wind to fall. Hurricane Dorian is on the way....we looked a the other big branches on this tree and all but one has a significant problem with breakage or decay. And there is a hole rotting out of the center of the tree at the main fork. And one of the big roots that runs on the top of the ground is dead. This tree has done well but it hasn't been maintained for most of it's life - if it had been shaped, it would have been able to withstand the winds better. As it is, it's been damaged enough that it needs to come down. There aren't enough good branches to justify leaving it. We hate to cut down a tree, but this needs to be done. 

A 3-man crew worked on our neighbor's tree, so we talked to them about ours. We came to a price agreement and they showed up the next day. One guy strapped on some kind of leg-spikes and climbed the tree. The guy below tied a chainsaw to a rope draped over the limb and pulled it up to the first man. 

Then he casually walked out on a branch and started cutting. He's obviously done this before. He cut several branches out of the way to get to the dead snag in the middle of the tree. 

As he got a branch cut, he either dropped it or tied it to be lowered, depending on its size. 

They got a late start so they waited until 2pm to stop for lunch. Unfortunately as they came back, it started raining very hard. They lost another waiting for the rain to stop so they could get started again. 

That man up in the tree was part squirrel and part lumberjack. The other 2 kept busy, too, with maneuvering the limbs down and cutting them up to haul out. They didn't take any today, but they did load up a flat-bed to be taken tomorrow. 

They really wanted to get finished today but dusk put an end to the work today. The guy in the tree wanted to finish but everyone else, including Randy and I, said it was too dark. They will have to come back tomorrow.