Last November my husband noticed lots of wood chips under a large oak in our backyard. Sure enough, a woodpecker had been working hard, digging for bugs in a large branch.. The hole it made was enormous!!
A big gust of wind blew down that huge branch last week, the calamity due to its recent run-in with the woodpecker, no doubt. The limb missed the house and the garage. Now it's waiting to be chopped into firewood.
I got to thinking about all the trees I’ve known. When we were kids, my sister and brother and I used to play with my grandparent’s tree, Charley. I don’t know what kind of tree Charley was, but he was big and gave us plenty of shade. We fed him squashed berries from one of the shrubs growing near the house. I really liked taking care of Charley. He was a good listener, too.
The most beautiful dogwood in the world lived outside a house trailer I lived in early in my first marriage. That tree was majestic. The pink blooms covered every inch of each branch. It took my breath away.
One Fourth of July in my first house we got ready to walk to the main street for the parade. I looked out the window. and found the lawn covered in white, with more white heaped up at the curbs. What?It was July! It was a cottonwood! I was so surprised. Cottonwoods are not among my favorite trees.
Seems like yesterday when our next-door neighbor’s climbing tree was the perfect hide-away for my ten-year-old daughter. She spent an entire summer in that next-door tree with her books and her solitude.
And back to the broken tree in my backyard. I’ll have to call someone to have a look inside. I can’t imagine that it is very healthy, what with woodpecker holes and all. That tree fed squirrels. It gave shelter to robins, cardinals, and too many sparrows, starlings and finches to count. It provided hiding places for insects, till last week. Thinking of losing such a venerable and lovely tree fills me with sadness.
I better walk the yard before it snows again, Maybe the squirrels left an acorn or two laying around. I know I have an old pot and some soil in the garage. Spring will be here soon enough.
--stay curious!
A big gust of wind blew down that huge branch last week, the calamity due to its recent run-in with the woodpecker, no doubt. The limb missed the house and the garage. Now it's waiting to be chopped into firewood.
I got to thinking about all the trees I’ve known. When we were kids, my sister and brother and I used to play with my grandparent’s tree, Charley. I don’t know what kind of tree Charley was, but he was big and gave us plenty of shade. We fed him squashed berries from one of the shrubs growing near the house. I really liked taking care of Charley. He was a good listener, too.
The most beautiful dogwood in the world lived outside a house trailer I lived in early in my first marriage. That tree was majestic. The pink blooms covered every inch of each branch. It took my breath away.
One Fourth of July in my first house we got ready to walk to the main street for the parade. I looked out the window. and found the lawn covered in white, with more white heaped up at the curbs. What?It was July! It was a cottonwood! I was so surprised. Cottonwoods are not among my favorite trees.
Seems like yesterday when our next-door neighbor’s climbing tree was the perfect hide-away for my ten-year-old daughter. She spent an entire summer in that next-door tree with her books and her solitude.
And back to the broken tree in my backyard. I’ll have to call someone to have a look inside. I can’t imagine that it is very healthy, what with woodpecker holes and all. That tree fed squirrels. It gave shelter to robins, cardinals, and too many sparrows, starlings and finches to count. It provided hiding places for insects, till last week. Thinking of losing such a venerable and lovely tree fills me with sadness.
I better walk the yard before it snows again, Maybe the squirrels left an acorn or two laying around. I know I have an old pot and some soil in the garage. Spring will be here soon enough.
--stay curious!
RSS Feed