Cutting Down a Memory Maker...

When we woke up this morning we knew, before the day ended, our last soft maple tree in the front yard would be cut down.

 I hated to cut this tree down. I also had become somewhat afraid of her existence. She had outgrown her spot in the yard; leaning too far over our home. It was a matter of time before the unpredictable weather caused her to fall on our house. Wind had caused damage earlier in the spring when a force of nature ripped part of the north facing tree off, landing the limbs and branches in my flower bed. That was our first major wake up call concerning the life of that tree. Wednesday we talked about the tree and Friday we took the tree down.

Jody, our other brother, did the cutting. Tommy had a rope tied to the truck keeping the tension tight  as Jody began to saw the 60 foot tree down at its base. I took photos of the tree as it fell. There were four shots fired from the tree as it slowly began to ease toward the ground. The cracking of the tree was loud.  It popped and snapped as it fought to stand erect.  I saw the top branches sway back and forth ever so slightly as she began to loose control. For some reason I took several steps backwards,  knowing full well I was already out of the danger zone.

I had moved all my yard decorations out of the front yard earlier that morning. I placed our flag

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in an abandoned satellite pole so
it could keep flying during the whole process. Slowly the tree began to fall. I was worried about Jody and Tommy. I wasn't 100% sure Tommy was far enough away. He was. I worried that the rope might break from all the stress and tension. It didn't. I was worried that Jody might get hurt
in a kick back from the tree.  He didn't. Everything went according to plan. In less than a couple of minutes the 60 year old tree lost the battle and landed hard and loud in our front yard .

                          


                    

 

The tree hit the ground with a shrieking crash and a mighty slam. It continued to snap and pop for a few minutes as limb after limb gave up the fight.  Within fifteen minutes a male cardinal landed in the mess of limbs and tangled branches. I was surprised to see this and missed the photo as I watched in amazement. Two hours later the tree was filled with juncos, finches, sparrows and a few cardinals. Once again they claimed their section of our tree.

As I walked toward the tree I had a 'moment' when a ton of memories and photos flashed through my mind. I remembered the fairy gardens, the sand boxes, swing sets,and our first hummingbird feeder as it  hung from this tree. I remember nights when we sat outside in a swing, watching the kids play.  I remembered nights when Tommy would bring his guitar outside to sing and play music as the sun set and darkness crept in taking over the night shift.  I also remembered funny times.  Once  Lisa and I were sitting in an old red swing.  The back broke and both of us hit the ground with our feet straight up in the air. We all laughed until I think we cried.  Even then it didn't take much to make us happy.

That tree served its purpose and will continue as we cut the wood up for next years heat. It is all part of the cycle of life...and such a nice life it has been.