The Trees Fell

By Author: Bryant John
Total Articles: 1
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We own a property that has been passed down in my family for over four generations it was originally a home steading property and hosted the first post office for our county. That original homestead home is long gone but each new generation has built unto the property and there is currently a nice ranch style rambler home, chicken coop, green house, milk barn, grain barns and a slew of sheds and tractor outbuildings. About 20 years ago the family farm was shut down, the need for grain and milk was not in demand and we could not afford to stay in business. The family decided to keep the property as an investment property due to its proximity to the Logan, Utah with convenient access the highway. We have been trying to keep the property in good working order for the last few years but without the heavy equipment and additional hands around the property a lot has been neglected. In Particular there are about 40 overgrown trees that are or I should say were… overhanging some of the buildings on the property. These trees lined a small creek that ran along the property line. At the beginning of 2016 we decided that they had reached ...
... a point that they had become a serious hazard to the property and needed to be dealt with. My nephew complaining about the high cost of firewood to heat his house for the last winter said that he would be willing to chop them down and remove the trees as long as he could keep all the firewood. We are always trying to look out for our family and this seemed like a great way for us everyone to get what they needed. He agreed to come over that next weekend to start the process but let us know that with his busy work schedule he would not be able to complete the job in one weekend and it would likely take many weeks before he could finish it. That was all good and well with us we have nothing but time and were more than happy to think of the trees finally being removed no matter the time frame. That weekend he came out and started cutting the trees down. Now I am not one to micromanage and I tend to give the benefit of the doubt so I left him to his work and never thought twice of it. He would come over every weekend and we would hear the chainsaw running but I never did see a trailer pulling out the chopped up wood to remove it. Months passed the nephew stopped coming over and all was forgotten for a time. Until the spring of 2017. We had a very harsh winter this last year lots of snow. The snow was so deep it damaged many building around the city. We went out to inspect our buildings and boy were we surprised. Not a single tree had been removed. The trees had been cut about halfway into at the base of the trunk and then left to fall on their own and fall they did in whichever direction that gravity decided to pull them. Buildings were hit a trailer was crushed the whole thing became a much bigger mess than anyone could have ever imagined. Needless to say we called the nephew but our calls went unanswered and we were left with the daunting task of clearing out the trees and the mess. At this pint this was a job beyond DIY and we had to call in the specialists. Luckily a high school friend had started his own tree trimming and land clearing company. A quick bid from Tree Service Logan and one full weekend of work and our property was cleared out not a fallen tree in sight. The building are once again safe and we learned a valuable lesson: love your family but don’t let them at your property with a chainsaw and good intentions. It is far better to call a professional and get the job done right the first time. It may just save you a pretty penny and a trailer.