GOING....GOING.....GONE!

I had a big tree taken down...a Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum); I've owned it for 46 years.  I bought the house from a guy who had it 12 years before me so that makes the tree 63 years old.  I know you math majors out there are wondering how 46+12=63.  You forgot to add in the 5 years old the tree was when he planted it.
~
It was easily 4 1/2 feet (1.372 m) in diameter at the base and around 90 feet (27.4 m) tall...an adult man couldn't wrap his arms halfway around it.  The original owner told me that it was sold to him as being "self-pruning."  I've discovered that self-pruning means that every time the wind blows the yard is full of branches and twigs the size of which are directly proportional to the force of the wind.
~
The original owner also had some steel poles buried in the ground, anchored in concrete which he used as a wash line for drying clothes.  Over time, the tree grew laterally around one of the steel poles so that it was literally encased inside the tree trunk except for the top of the pole which was bent over and protruding.....you can see it in one of the extras.
~
It had to come down....I really feared that a big wind, one of those once-in-a-hundred-years winds would topple it and if it came down it would take out my house and my neighbor's house to the west.  It was planted on the lot line and half was now growing in his yard.  I will miss the coolness that literally shaded three backyards due to its canopy being so large.
~
It took a bucket truck, a monster crane and a skip loader to get the job done not to mention an industrial strength wood chipper that was capable of chewing up branches 15 inches (38cm) in diameter.  He hauled away 4 big truck loads of wood chips.
~
The trunk was so large and heavy that his saw blade couldn't cut all the way through...it wasn't long enough.  It took a lift from the crane and a shove from the skip loaded to break off the uncut piece.  The whole trunk was then lifted over the garage roof and, along with all the large branches placed on a truck to haul away.  The crane operator said the force meter, while lifting the trunk, read 7,000 pounds (3,182kg) of pressure....in English measurements that's 3.5 tons.  Imagine that tree falling on your house.
~
The stump was then ground out as well as all the lateral roots.  You can see the remains in the last Extra.  I underestimated how much topsoil it would take to fill the stump hole.  I'll have to get more to taper off the hillside and then it's time to plant grass.
~
Best in Large.  I might add that without the tree the yard seems to be twice as big as it actually is.