Above is a photo of our house in 2003 with the cottonwood trees in the background.  Here’s a photo from last Tuesday.

Here is a photo of the size of the tree trunks in 2006.

Here is one from this morning. (Also note the appearance of the clothesline pole as it will give you perspective in later photos).

It is truly amazing how quickly cottonwood trees grow.  But they grew to the point that they could easily hit our house, and they were shading our vegetable garden.  So sadly it was time for them to go.  Here is one of the pieces coming down.

Here is the boom in among the branches.

Here is one of the tree tops coming down.

Here is one of the trunks dropping.

And this is what our backyard looks like now.  Notice the clothesline pole buried on the right.

We have our work cut out for us now, cleaning all of this up.  It will be nice not having to worry every time the wind blows.  And it will be nice having a more productive vegetable garden.  But I will miss these beautiful trees.