May from Cathy - tree saga

Cathy used that stamp that's been popping up with some really nice designs. The note on the back of the card says she was *playing with a marker and stencils." I wonder how she got markers to look like airbrush.That's such a good idea to put the dots in a row. Steal worthy.

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On Tuesday, Roy looked at the trees and agreed that the one with only two main branches was at the end of its life. He said he could come back on Thursday to take out that tree.

Wednesday morning - we woke up with no power because the tree that was supposedly going to stay dropped a limb on the power line, broke off the connecting post, and damaged the shingles on the roof. There had not been any storm to cause the line to drop. It was ominous.

The power crew that arrived was actually from Missouri. They had been called in because there was a major storm headed our way. Yikes. We were very lucky to get the wires and roof fixed by mid-afternoon. But it was ominous that the tree that was in better shape had just dropped a limb - without the aid of a storm.

I deduced that the tree that was going to get to stay heard me talking to Roy and it didn't want to be left alone. It wanted to go with the faithful companion. I read the book - The Secret Life of Trees - and there is a lot of evidence that trees have ways to communicate. Roy actually agreed with me when I told him my theory. He said it made him sad to take out trees - but - at a certain point, they are ready to go.

Roy came on Wednesday afternoon to take off some limbs that could have fallen on the house or on the brand new power line since we were expecting another storm. He planned on returning on Thursday to finish -- but on Thursday morning, my son, Hunter had 2 trees that had fallen onto his house. So, I texted Roy to go check out Hunter's house and it took him all day to clear out those two trees.

So - here I am on Friday - with the endless drone of chain saws and chippers. As I have been outside more often over the past 3 days - nearly every neighbor has come out to offer condolences. People love trees. 

Now I get to decide what to plant....I'm thinking ginkgo. They do not grow very fast - but they are soooo pretty and there is another one on the street. And, yes, I know to make sure I get a male tree. 

My hastily lettered sign to make sure there were not any cars parked in the way.

In case anyone needs to use their trash bins for sign posts - duct tape does not work on plastic bins and especially not when it is 93° - I had to use packing tape and run it all the way around the bin.