July afternoons in the Wallkill valley build heat until the ridge west of Middletown turns the color of a bruise and the first thunder rolls down over the rooftops. Hudson Valley Tree Removal knows what follows: the phone, and a maple across a porch on one of the old rail-town streets. Storm damage cleanup starts with whatever is unsafe and ends with a swept sidewalk and a yard you would let a kid run through. The rest of the year goes to the work that prevents that call — pruning out weak unions, trimming crowns back off the roof, removing the trees that have quietly given up. Orange County grows big timber close to old houses, and getting one down without touching the house is the whole art of it.