I Love Nature
The glorious 200 year old maple has been my companion since I bought this old farmhouse forty years ago. I loved this gigantic tree from the first moment I laid eyes on her. She was close to the back of the house, so I called in experts and they trimmed her and cabled a limb that was growing at a bit of an awkward angle. I loved her beauty and the shelter for birds, shade, and fall color she gave us. She was magnificent! Everyone who came to my gardens remarked about this beautiful maple tree.
Twenty years ago a large limb at the top broke during a bad wind storm, taking off the back porch roof and puncturing the bedroom ceiling as it crashed down. Again the experts were called, she was trimmed and deemed safe.
But over the past few years I noticed that the cabled limb seemed hollow. I began to worry during bad storms. I knew I needed to seek expert advice but I put it off because I feared the worst. I convinced myself that the tree was probably fine, even though my gut instinct was telling me differently. A couple of weeks ago after a particularly bad storm, I couldn't ignore it any longer. The experts were called. It was time for her to come down.
I felt so sad as I watched the process. Since a truck couldn't get back into the area, she was taken down by a climber, limb by limb, bit by bit and it was painful to watch. But it was fascinating as well to witness the expertise of the crew as they did their work. I tried to focus on that.
Finally the large notch in the trunk was cut and the result was shocking. The entire center of the trunk was hollow all the way up, at least 18 inches in diameter of rotted void was exposed. It was a relief to know for sure that I had made the right decision. And mostly I was grateful to my beautiful friend that she had held on until I could bring myself to decide.
Twenty years ago a large limb at the top broke during a bad wind storm, taking off the back porch roof and puncturing the bedroom ceiling as it crashed down. Again the experts were called, she was trimmed and deemed safe.
But over the past few years I noticed that the cabled limb seemed hollow. I began to worry during bad storms. I knew I needed to seek expert advice but I put it off because I feared the worst. I convinced myself that the tree was probably fine, even though my gut instinct was telling me differently. A couple of weeks ago after a particularly bad storm, I couldn't ignore it any longer. The experts were called. It was time for her to come down.
I felt so sad as I watched the process. Since a truck couldn't get back into the area, she was taken down by a climber, limb by limb, bit by bit and it was painful to watch. But it was fascinating as well to witness the expertise of the crew as they did their work. I tried to focus on that.
Finally the large notch in the trunk was cut and the result was shocking. The entire center of the trunk was hollow all the way up, at least 18 inches in diameter of rotted void was exposed. It was a relief to know for sure that I had made the right decision. And mostly I was grateful to my beautiful friend that she had held on until I could bring myself to decide.
