that tree is off our roof

Late Sunday night, feeling a little defeated, having called half a dozen tree services, I googled emergency tree removal service and our location and got this.
I figured it must have been a google error until I poked around and found out that Tim Waterman, arborist-extraordinaire drove cross country to do tree removal work in my area.
He and his brother-in-law came by the house, in the dark, exhausted from a long day of work and gave us an estimate that knocked us out. There was no way we could afford him. We sent him off and I began to worry again about K taking down that tree.
About an hour later Tim called,  I don't want your husband up on that roof, he said and slashed his price nearly in half. I told him I'd think about it and call him in the morning.
The next morning, it took K about four hours to drop a much smaller maple tree that was cracked and endangering our car. The chainsaw was smoking, he was exhausted. Middle and I watched with great anxiety and when he was done he told me I could call Tim.
They were just down the road.
They brought a gigantic crane.
They talked for a long long time about how to do what they needed to do.
They put the crane in the driveway and put down outriggers.




The crane was huge. The tree was huge. It was a complex and delicate operation to lift the tree off the roof, slice it where it had cracked, swing it gently around, lower it to the ground and start cutting.

 

They were the nicest guys in the world. They were amazing professionals. They allowed us to pay what we could afford (and I am certain, with the destruction in my town, that they are doing very well). The tree weighed 3300 pounds. Just a couple of hundred pounds shy of the maximum they could lift. While we all know K is capable of just about anything, 3300 pounds was just slightly above his limits.

We are very lucky.
This is the new view out my living room windows.