From Shade Tree To Firewood

For thirty-seven years the venerable locust tree shaded our driveway. Sometime before we came here it had lost a large limb, leaving a cavity that held rainwater and bred mosquitoes if we didn’t remember to pour some oil on the water. Then last February under a heavy, wet snow another large, hollow limb succumbed, lodging against another tree and scattering smaller branches across the driveway.

When Steve came to clean the chimney in March he remarked that the old tree easily might lose another large limb, perhaps damaging a person or vehicle. “I could cut that tree for you after I retire from the sheriff’s department in July. I would cut it into firewood lengths, too, and stack it.” We quickly struck a deal.

Last week Steve and his son-in-law came with chain saws, ladders and ropes and quickly set about taking the tree down. Somehow a hackberry tree has managed to grow straight up through the locust’s branches. The locust is directly behind the hackberry in this photo. Steve is in the tree.

Within the hour they had dropped the tree exactly where they intended, to the northeast across the driveway. It fell without damaging any of the surrounding trees.

They set about trimming small branches and cutting the tree into sections.

By mid-afternoon the old locust was distributed into various piles, one of leafy branches, one of kindling-size lengths and several of firewood lengths, ready to be split when the weather turns cold.

The odd hackberry tree remains with its sixty-foot high trunk and a little topknot of leafy branches. Dennis quickly named it “The Giraffe.”

I predict that Steve will have a fine third career as a tree-cutter. Between our chimney and our dying pine trees, we will be seeing him often.

Copyright 2013 by Shirley Domer