Tuesday, February 20, 2024

Bye-Bye, Bradfords



Well. There you go. 
The Bradford pears are as gone as Bradford pears can be. I was truly having my doubts about whether or not we'd made the right decision in having them removed but for right this second, at least, I am not unhappy about it at all. In fact, I feel a sense of peace looking out from the back porch. There's a lot less going on now. But it's more than that. It's like, "Oh. That's what it's supposed to look like."
Is it possible that those trees were so obviously out of place here that their presence felt somehow disturbing to me? 

Watching the father and son work together to cut those trees down and clear the yard of branches was truly something. I woke up to see this.


That's the father. He was buckled in, strapped in, and chain-saw welding. A tree monkey. A chain-saw cowboy.



He was perching on extremely small branches and dangling in thin air. He was cutting, trimming, and moving with a swiftness that defied belief. 
When he'd come down and take a breather, he'd say, "I'm not as young as I used to be."
I told his son that although he may not be as young as he used to be, he sure is nimble. 
"Yep," the son said. "Sixty years old and still in the trees. And he's had three heart attacks."  
"Excuse me," I said, "But holy shit!"
"I know. He has three stents. The doctors say that the work he does is why he's probably still alive." I could just feel the admiration shining off the son. I thought about how I'd feel if I had a husband who did work like that and had had three heart attacks. 
"Are your parents still together?" I asked. I am a nosy bitch.
"Nope," he said. "They're divorced. She's remarried and living in Virginia. But she used to work with him. She did what I do now."
Another holy shit was in order. 

Families. Not only do we all personally have a story, our families do too. Absolutely. I'll never forget a birth I attended when I was working at the Birth Centre and discovered that the mom, the dad, the grandparents and all of the aunts and uncles, worked in sheetrock. That's what they did. I'm not sure why that detail has stayed with me but it has. I just loved the image of the sheetrock installing family welcoming a new member into the family. I wonder if that baby grew up to be part of the family business.

Mr. Moon went back for another load of compost this morning and although I offered to help shovel it, he asked if I'd finish up the last of the weeding instead. 
I was quite happy to do that. I really want to plant my beans now but it's not quite time yet. They need more heat, I think. Although this weather has been perfect for us, cool, and clear without a cloud in the sky, the summer vegetables would probably like the soil to be a little warmer before we set out plants or push seeds into the ground. 
I have to say that the way the air feels, dryer, and cool in the shade, warm in the sun, along with the way the sky looks, has given me such primal pleasure that I can't help but feel content. Another one of those days in which the thoughts that so often torment me seem so far, far away. 
And don't think I do not recognize and appreciate that because I do.

Mr. Moon just went out to check the fire that the tree guys started and which has been slow-hot-burning since yesterday. I took it's picture earlier this afternoon.


Again- scale is impossible to get but those are some very large logs. Some of the wood went to someone who wants it for lumber and carving so that's not all that came down. When Glen expressed surprise that trees so freshly cut would burn, the boss-dad said, "Aw, they'll burn fine if the fire is hot enough."
And it is, obviously. That man knows more about trees and wood than I can even imagine. 

So that's the end of the story of the Bradford pears and the beginning of the story of what comes next to live in that space. Just as we humans are adjusting to the trees being gone, so are the birds and the squirrels and the cats too. Both Jack and Maurice have been walking around back there, trying to figure it out, I think. Maurice especially has been disturbed by the activity and the noises. I think she is a very intelligent animal and it's so hard on her to realize that something out of the ordinary is definitely going on without being able to understand exactly what or why. And she's an anxious cat, prone to worrying. Jack, on the other hand, doesn't seem too perturbed. I think he is more at peace with the fact that humans do weird shit all the time. 
We should all be more like Jack. 

Here's a picture of a brown anole, another invasive that has made its home in a place that it did not originate from. 


These we let be. They are here to stay.

Love...Ms. Moon


 

30 comments:

  1. I love the anole. And your description. As I read it, I thought aren't we all?
    Nice open space there. I wouldn't be in a rush to fill it.

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    1. Yes. Most of us are non-native for sure. And have we pushed out the native population? Of course.
      I'm not in a rush to fill in this space. Glen and I are both pondering it, seeing what we see there.

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  2. I hate to see trees go. About any tree. Sometimes, though, they do need to go....much like 'some' people'?? I have a list! People, not trees! LOL! I guess the elder tree surgeon proves exercise really does help! If the doctor told him that, I guess the proof is in the pudding. The cleared area looks great and opens up a blank canvass. You may want to live with it a while before you decide what, if anything, you want to put there. Fruit trees do sound nice. BTW, I tried your beloved 'Fabuloso' and loved it!
    That one's a keeper. Thanks for mentioning it. My kitchen floor smells Fabuloso!
    Paranormal John

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    1. These trees that we took out are very bad for the environment. Read Don's comment below. As he said, some states even offer incentives to get people to take them out. We will sit with this space for awhile before we rush into anything.
      You used Fabuloso! I dilute it in a lot of water and add a little white vinegar. I think it makes a fine cleaning solution. I do the same in a spray bottle to clean small areas.

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  3. When we had several dead or unwanted trees taken down, the wood was carted off who knows where. It wasn't burned on our several acres, probably because of no open burning in the township. I look forward to seeing what you will do back there.

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    1. A lot of tree companies chip the wood, I think. And yes- Lloyd has no open-air burning laws. Luckily, the wind has been just right, wafting the smoke away from the houses and over the railroad tracks and across the swamp.

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  4. I didn't realise that the Bradford pear trees were so tall! No wonder Glen wanted experts to take them down. As for "sheetrock" - I had never heard of it but after a little research I discovered that you were talking about what we in Great Britain call plasterboard. To be doing the tree surgery at the age of sixty and after three heart attacks! That guy is heroic!

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    1. Yes! They were super-tall. And pretty big in diameter, too. As I said- the tree guy said they were the biggest he'd ever seen.
      Isn't that Tree Cowboy amazing? It truly was like watching an aerialist perform. I even applauded a few times!

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  5. Those trees were massive, or tall at least. I've learned that anything will burn if the fire is hot enough. We do the same thing here but on a much small scale. The big guy cuts the logs up smaller for me and I cut all the branches down small enough to fit in out small firepit in the backyard. I love building fires. A past life as an arsonist? Or a witch maybe:)

    I just spent the last hour cleaning up a lot of vomit. Poor Jack has had diarrhea all day but he started vomiting around supper time, drank a lot of milk and then vomited everything, everywhere. Good times. I got an early start on my spring cleaning.

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    1. I think that honestly, many, many of us love to start fires. But not like an arsonist! When I was in Girl Scouts and we were doing primitive camping I just loved building a good fire and cooking over it. It really satisfied something very primal in me.
      Poor Jack! Poor you! And if you don't get it too it'll be a miracle.

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  6. Oh I do love the big empty! Although I am sure in summer time you might miss those trees providing shade. I love to think of the possibilities that bit of land offers.
    I am glad that you ask all the right

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    1. questions, I do that too. Not nosy just interested in other peoples stories. Everyone has one.

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    2. I may well miss the shade. I am absolutely not discounting that possibility.
      Yes! One of my favorite quotes is by Yoko Ono who said, "Everyone has a story to tell." And most people really do want to tell it. All you have to do is ask and then listen.

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  7. I see a bird feeder! and lots of lovely empty space just waiting for you to decide what to do there. If the evenings are still cold you can park a few chairs around that fire and bake potatoes in the hot ashes around the edge.

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    1. There is a indeed a bird-feeder.
      Glen and I were joking that we could roast a few deer, a couple of pigs and a side of beef on that fire.

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  8. Wow, imagine being able to shimmy up and down those trees after 3 heart attacks and at age 60! The son is probably right - not being a couch potato probably saved his life!

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    1. I agree. If he'd just decided to take it easy after his heart attacks, he probably wouldn't be here.

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  9. Now that’s a job well done. Heartwarming to hear the admiration the son has for the father. And very cool photos! It’ll be fun to see what you do with the new space and sunshine.

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    1. Glen told them that it was so nice to see a father and son working together so closely. He told them they were lucky.
      "We know!" they said. And I think they do.
      We are talking about lots of different options with that back yard.

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  10. Removing Bradford pear trees is a very good thing. Many states have officially put them on the non native invasive list and some offer incentives to remove them. You should probably also remove the stumps or at least make sure they don’t “resprout” (yes, they can). Those terrible trees create “dead zones” underneath them and are easily storm damaged and dangerous. For those who like their blossoms, there are several wonderful native small trees with similar blooms: dogwood, serviceberry, black cherry.

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    1. Don, hello! Thank you so much for supporting our decision to take down those trees. We've been wanting to do it for years but this year, Glen just called the tree guys, they came over, gave him a date and an estimate and it is done.
      I know what you're saying about the stumps. Also, the runner roots. Any tips on the best way to make sure we prevent them from sprouting? Do you know if stump grinding has any effect on that?

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  11. I wonder if the son will be the one up in the trees one day and his children will be working on the ground below him. What a talent!

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    1. I've wondered that myself, Ellen. I don't even know if the son has kids. I should have asked him!

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  12. Those were some big Trees to remove! I hadn't realized Bradford Pears were an invasive species and had so many downsides, since, they are pretty when in Bloom and seem to get big fast. We felt the same when we recently had our huge 40+ Year Old Pine Tree removed, you're not sure how Safely it can be removed and I stood in Awe of our Tree Removal People too, it's dangerous Work. They were impressing our Lovely Granddaughter by showing off for her so had it down in less than 40 Minutes!!! *LOL* I don't feel bad about it now it's gone, ours was dying, Bark Beetle has been a scourge to Trees in recent Years and that one wasn't going to survive an infestation. I think your instincts about the Trees was probably accurate... removal was probably a wise thing to do.

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    1. Yes! When they were introduced here in the US they were the hot, best thing to grow quickly in landscaping. Plus- blossoms! Took them quite awhile to figure out how damaging they actually are.
      It's always hard to take down a tree but sometimes it truly is necessary. Like a surgery, almost.

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  13. damn, those trees were tall! but now you have a nice open area. we had a big dead hackberry taken down. well, it had already broken and fallen down so we had it cleared and hauled to the burn pile which was huge with huge big sections of that tree. I torched the pile one morning and had a hard time getting it to burn. mostly it smoldered, maybe only burned about 1/3 of the pile by the end of the day. I was shocked to see the next morning that all those huge sections of that tree, every bit of that pile, had smoldered overnight to ash.

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    1. Ours still has some big logs on it and I'm not sure if they're going to burn or not. They're actually too big for us to move closer to the heart of the fire. We'll see.

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  14. be still my beating heart......that does NOT look like the body of a 60 year old man up in those trees! yowza, he's got some *charisma* LOL! Will be
    interesting to see what you eventually decide to do or not do....with that open space. For now.....just enjoy the light......
    Susan M

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    1. I know! The man has a very trim and strong body. I doubt he has to go to the gym!

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  15. It looks much different out there, doesn't it? Some sun and open space will be a good thing.

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.