Tree Tragedy

This week, tragedy struck our household. I was mowing the lawn in the backyard when a man came to the side gate and waved to get my attention. When I walked over, he said that he was with the trash company and there had been a situation with our tree out front and I needed to call the City of Overland Park because it was their fault. I was a bit confused as to what he was talking about so I asked him to show me. This is what I saw:
The trash truck had hit our tree at quite a high speed and ripped it in half. The roots were broken and the bark buckled on half the tree as well. I was speechless. I figured that the tree was a total loss but I called our tree guy to see if anything could be done to save it. It's an ash tree that's at least 25 years old and shades our entire front yard. The arborist said that nothing could be done to save it and the tree would have to go. So...




The next day, the city forester came by with her team to assess the damage and take down the tree. Halle, Spencer and I watched them chop half of the tree down and mulch it within about 30 minutes. (Actually, once the chain saw started, Spencer went inside and watched from a window until the noise stopped.) They would return the following day and complete the job. Here is our yard before the incident with our beautiful tree.

Here it is after. The city will grind out the stump and plant us a new tree soon.