No Fury Like....

Someone really ticked off Mother Nature a couple of weeks ago. Wasn’t me, I wasn’t even home! On that Friday, it threatened rain most of the afternoon. Where I was, the threat was rather weak, producing only grey clouds and a few raindrops hardly worth mentioning.

However, during my afternoon commute things began to change. The closer I got to home, the windier it became, the clouds were almost black and puddles lay on the road (free car wash!). By the time I reached home though, the sun was shining and the wind had become a pleasant breeze.

Turning onto my street, I was greeted by the sight of a Police cruiser blocking the intersection at the next corner. Oh-oh. What’s happened now? I like to mind my own business (most of the time), so I continued home. Pulling into the driveway I was greeted by a yard littered with downed tree branches, bent flowers and no hydro. As I began picking up the branches and stacking them in the chipping pile, our huge old maple at the corner finally caught my attention. Several large limbs were hanging on by threads of bark. Not a good sign. On closer inspection, the number of damaged limbs had me worried. I feared the injuries this old tree suffered were terminal. When our resident arbourist (Trev) got off work, he confirmed my suspicions. The grand old tree would have to go.

Friday evening the neighbourhood was alive with the sound of chainsaws as we began the task of taking down this landmark tree whose trunk was so big, I could not put my arms around it. And, around the corner that the Police were guarding, another maple was being taken down by the hydro crew. (That maple had the audacity to take power lines with it, which is why we did not have hydro.) I had to chuckle as the crew of six down the street had all the toys to take down trees, including a bucket truck and several chain saws of different sizes. The tree they removed was half the size of ours which we dropped with a ladder, small chain saw, hand saw and loppers. The hydro crew stopped to watch as two, (dare I say it?) middle age people tackled the task of downing a giant tree with the scantest of tools. Once the tree was down, one of the fellows came over to say “Good job! Amazing!” .

So, our village has lost one of its landmark trees and that is sad. But we have left most of the trunk and are toying with the idea of carving it. Trevor has always wanted to experiment with chain saw carving. We think it would be appropriate to leave a part of the tree that has stood on that corner for nearly a hundred years.
Come winter, we may have new garden art that the entire village can enjoy. At the very least, it would give the villagers something to talk about.