HE'S A LUMBERJACK AND HE'S OKAY

This was the view from my window when I woke up this morning. Prominent is the ailanthus tree that's been growing higher year by year.

Here's another one. I call them weed trees. They were imported from China and thrive on pollution. No wonder they grow like weeds in New York City.

This is the dead ailanthus next to the one growing by my window. Today I realized that someone was back there with a chainsaw. I wasn't surprised that they were taking down the dead tree. What astonished me was that they were taking down the live tree too!

And here's the lumberjack taking down the tree section by section.

Amazing to watch!

So the two trees were both growing in the same backyard and a branch fell down from the dead one and the decision was made to remove them both.

I'm not sorry to see my ailanthus go. I guess I won't see the cardinals so often. But then maybe the squirrels will stay off the fire escape and next year I can have petunias again.

Cutting down trees in such cramped quarters is very different from what lumberjacks do in the woods. And I was very interested to watch it. Will my neighbors on the floors below notice that something's not the way it was this morning? Will they realize the tree is gone?