A yard full of trees is a blessing – and a curse. In the early spring, trees are among the first to spring to life, first with tiny buds, then leaves. As summer approaches the leaves create a blanket of welcomed shade and the branches of the trees become homes for birds and highways for squirrels.
So, what’s not to like about trees? For one, they get old and begin to die and that’s the curse.
I have a yard full of dying trees, most approaching 75 years of wear and tear. Some have already been turned into firewood while the others are well on their way. A couple weeks ago, a thunderstorm delivered 60 and 70 mile per hour wind gusts through my back yard, felling 6 major limbs, some of which landed on our shed, some on our neighbor’s shed, others on two fences and one on the side of our house.
Fortunately, we have a reliable tree guy who came quickly and charged a fair amount to remove the fallen limbs, then he suggested we do a major pruning job on the remaining trees to soften the next storm’s blow. Yesterday, we had such a blow which leveled many trees and disrupted power lines across our region. All my trees made it, but an old cherry tree on school property behind out house did not fare so well. Nancy and I took care of the disposal of severed limbs and branches, and I must admit, the tree guys are worth every penny. It was quite a clean-up job.
If you have trees, enjoy them while you can and begin a special savings account for when the old guys have seen their better days. The trouble with trees, dying trees, is that they are quite expensive.
