Trees and Climbers

In my big, back yard, live four large and one medium-size trees.  To keep them healthy, they need to be trimmed on a regular basis.  About every five years.  And, today is the day for the cottonwood and the soft maple.  But, not for the European linden or the “bug tree.”  I can never remember which bug it is named after, but it will occur to me before I finish writing this article.

I planted the European linden.  Our minister (actually, my first  Lutheran minister) and his wife had a European linden in their yard.  We had just moved into the property where I still live, and I wanted to have one of these trees in our yard.  Mrs. Vollmer gave me a tiny seedling, about six inches tall, with specific instructions about the placement in the yard and planting.  “Plant it in the shade of some bush.  Give it enough room.  It will grow up above the bush when it is ready,” she said.  So, I planted it in the shade of the pfizer, and it did grow up to be straight and tall – about sixty feet tall, I’m guessing.  In the spring, its flowers provide a sweet perfume.

Box elder – that’s the tree whose name I can never remember.  Sometimes, the box elder bug accompanies the tree, gets into buildings, etc.  It’s a pest.  But, I’ve never had any box elder bugs around the yard or in my house.  That’s good!

Neither the box elder nor the European linden will be trimmed, this year.  Or, the Mackintosh apple tree.  My children gave me that tree when I was about forty years old.  Until this year, it has not produced enough apples for picking.  Usually, there are just enough for the squirrels to take a bite and throw the rest on the ground.  Trimming of the apple tree can only take place during the dormant period of the tree, and it is not yet that time of year.

The tree crew started with the soft maple.  Since every tree has to be climbed, it wasn’t long before two men were in the tree taking pieces off of the branches.  Branches that went out to the chipper on the street to later be transported to some place where I hope the material can be best used.

A conversation with one of the crew let me know that only the soft maple would be trimmed, today.  Three of their most experienced crew were at a training in Aurora.  I believe it takes a special worker to be able to climb these trees; the cottonwood is seventy-eight feet tall and needs to have very experienced climbers working on it.

All morning, they worked.  Rope ties around branches brought them down into my yard and not a next-door neighbor’s yard.  Chain saws and regular tree saws on long poles did the duty they were created to do.  I kept wondering if one specific branch would be removed.  Although I’m not a tree trimmer, it seemed to be that that specific branch should go away.  When the men finished the trimming of the soft maple, I looked for that branch, but it was gone.

Then, there was a wire that was drooping down.  Keith (handyman) had arrived by the time the wire was noticed.  He’s been cutting up the palettes for me to burn during the cold weather and stacking the pieces in the wood racks.  He needed to work directly below the soft maple branches and the downed wire.  We had a three-way conversation (tree crewman, Keith, and I) about the purpose of that wire.  I checked cable TV, the telephone, the internet.  The cable TV comes into the house on the other side of the building; the cable TV was working.  The internet was working.  The house telephone had a dial tone.

So, collectively, we determined that the wire was probably a wire left there by another installer of something.  It can come down and leave my house, forever.  You know my rule – every day, something has to leave my house and never come back!  That made two things leaving my house, today.  The wire and the boxes of newspaper I’ve been saving for Keith to start fires with in the winter.  Gone – both gone!

The climbing crew finished their work about noon.  Keith and I went for lunch at a local Mexican food restaurant.  Now. Keith has resumed his work.  And, I will wait for another date, to be determined, for the trimming of the cottonwood tree.  I’m a little disappointed that it wasn’t all done, today, but safety is of utmost importance.  And, I’m pleased that they are careful workers.

Be safe and well.

The Cranky Crone

Thoughtful comments are welcome.