Let there be light!

In case the kitchen and the start of school and wedding planning aren't keeping us busy enough, I have also been working on a side project for the past month: getting the tree next to our living room window removed. Not only was it blocking so much light that we felt like we were in a basement, but the type of tree that was there, a Podocarpus, was way too big for the space and had potential to damage the roof and the fence. Moreover, we were already seeing signs of damage on the walkway from the roots.

I got a bunch of competing bids, selected the best one, conferred with the HOA neighbors, gave a heads up to our next-door neighbors, and scheduled Matthew Bowman from Complete Tree Care to come out and do the job. Not only is he a great arborist, but he lives just down the block, so bonus points for supporting our local-ist economy.

Well, what a difference a day makes. Actually, in this case, what a difference twenty minutes makes. Matthew and his guys worked so quickly that I didn't have time to get a good before shot. But here's a mid-way shot:













And here's an after shot of light pouring into the living room:









While it's definitely not easy for environmentally-conscious people like us to give the okay to remove trees, we're going to eventually plant some shrubs that are better suited for that space, so bring on the oxygen!

Confidential to Seth: I told you so!