G hired professional tree trimmers.

It was a bit of a rude shock to come home to... the elms had lovely new shapes, but it felt pretty bald out where we like to sit -- a clear shot over the fence to the neighbors instead of some shaggy intermittent cover.

She asked them to leave the pile they had run through their chipper.  For the first few days it actually did a bit of composting down inside.  Never up to the temps of a hot pile, but it did smoke a little in the nippy morning air.  The thermometer readings were around 125/ 130.  Made me wish, AGAIN, that we had the time and energy to build a few piles and run them through the cycle.  It is the most amazing experience to build a gigantic mud pie and watch it bubble and boil down into something that actually looks like dirt in the space of a month.