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diff --git a/src/md/07_Trees.md b/src/md/07_Trees.md deleted file mode 100644 index f618e36..0000000 --- a/src/md/07_Trees.md +++ /dev/null @@ -1,266 +0,0 @@ ---- -title: Trees ---- - -Trees have influenced my life many times over the years. This little -memoir attempts to organize all my significant tree experiences into one -place. The motivation for this odd little treatise is that the item -"Plant a tree" is on my life's bucket list. After pondering about the -trees I have planted, I decided to expand the topic to other aspects of -interaction with trees also. - -My first memory of a tree experience comes from my earliest childhood -playground. My family lived in a small white house in Lakeview, Oregon -in 1958. We lived next to a kind old woman we referred to as Granny -Green. In her back yard there was an ancient apple tree. It was large -enough to support the weight of a 5-year-old boy who was learning to be -like Tarzan of the jungle. I remember spending many lazy summer days in -that back yard either under the tree or up in it. I hope to see Granny -Green again someday in Heaven to thank her for those pleasant memories -and her kindness to me and my siblings. - -## Treehouses - -Every healthy child must have a tree house embedded in his childhood at -some point. My first one belongs to the period when my family lived in -Oregon City in an old farm-house we rented for about a year or so. This -would have been about 1964 when I was in the 5th grade of elementary -school. There was a large old cherry tree in the spacious back yard of -that farmhouse, not too far from a huge barn full of smelly old hay, -bugs, pigeons and ancient farm equipment. The cherry tree had a few -large branches that extended nearly parallel to the ground at a height -of about 12 feet. With a ladder and some sophisticated engineering -skills, my brother and I managed to place a few planks of wood across -those branches to form a crude platform. This platform hardly qualified -as a true treehouse, but it was our first attempt at this kind of -construction, and we were still learning the skill. It was just large -enough for two small children to sit on and contemplate the vast world -below us. The comforts of this treehouse were fairly meager, but -occasionally we could eat fresh cherries without leaving the living -room. - -My next attempt at building a treehouse was considerably more -sophisticated. I can't claim all the credit for the engineering marvel -we created because our friend Dan Kraus filled the role of lead -construction engineer in this project. I'm guessing I was about 16 -years old by this time because I remember going to a lumber mill with -"Old Blue", our old blue Chevrolet station wagon that had been in the -family since the dawn of time. We paid them a dollar for all the lumber -scraps we could jam into the cargo hold of that station wagon. It was -perfect for creating the treehouse of our dreams. - -Dan Kraus chose a great location for the treehouse. It was located near -the top of a steep drop-off that descended about 100 feet to the river -bottoms below. This land was part of the original 60 acres that my -father bought when I was about 14 years old. He built the family home -about 1/4 mile away at the top of a hill overlooking the river valley -below. We found a clump of maple trees that were perfect for our -treehouse. There were 4 big tree trunks that rose toward the sky roughly -in the shape of a 4-pointed diamond. Two of the trunks in the middle of -the diamond were only about 18 inches apart, but the other two trunks at -the top and bottom of the diamond were about 6 feet apart. The floorplan -of the treehouse is shown below. - -{alt=""} - -As you can see from the drawing above, there is a square hole in the -floor between the two tree trunks that were close together. This hole -was the door to the treehouse. The only way to get into the treehouse -was to come up from below the floor and squeeze through the hole in the -floor. It was not the best arrangement for invited guests and visiting -dignitaries, but we weren't too worried about those issues when we -designed the treehouse. Now this was no ordinary treehouse in other ways -too. The bottom section of the floor (as shown in the drawing above) was -the living room and it had sides that rose about 6 feet and then it had -a roof over it. The top section was open to the air because it had no -sides, just a couple of boards to act as guard rails. This area was the -veranda. We also put up guard rails on the tree trunks above the living -room so you could climb up there and be on the lookout for pirates -coming up the river. We called this upper room the "crow's nest" -because you could see a large marsh and lots of water-fowl in the river -bottoms below us. The view was amazing and made us feel like we were the -kings of a vast kingdom of wild and untamed wilderness below. I wish we -had taken a picture of this treehouse. It was a source of great pride -for about one summer. Then other things like girls and cars become more -important and the treehouse was left to rot in the forest. - -## Climbing Trees - -I can remember two specific times when I nearly met with disaster when I -climbed a tree. The first happened at the same home where we built our -first tree house. There was an old apple tree near the house that had a -huge limb that extended quite far over the ground 20 feet below. I loved -to climb out to the end of that limb and bounce up and down. The limb -would sway up and down about 4 feet. I thought I was like a cowboy -riding a wild stallion in the air. I was too young and foolish to -consider that I might be overstressing the structural strength of that -tree limb. I just knew it was a lot of fun and wanted to impress others -with my bravery and climbing skills. On one occasion, I was riding the -wild stallion when my father came out in the yard. I yelled to him to -watch what I could do in the tree. I threw all my weight into the effort -to make the show as impressive as possible. Suddenly there was a sharp -crack as the large tree limb finally gave up and broke under the strain. -Now all my bravery evaporated, and I screamed like a little girl as the -broken limb and I fell to the ground below. Fortunately, I didn't break -any bones, but my pride was considerably bruised as my dad ran over to -assess the damage. When he found that I wasn't hurt, he just chuckled -and said, "Well, I guess you learned a valuable lesson about how -gravity works, Dan." - -The second memorable occasion when I climbed a tree illustrates that I -didn't learn very much from the first memorable tree-climbing incident. -We lived in a rented house in Vancouver when I was about 10 years old. -The neighbors across the road had a small pasture for a horse out behind -their house. Located in the pasture was one of the largest fir trees I -had ever seen. It rose about 80 feet into the air and was probably over -100 years old. To me it seemed like the magic bean stalk from the fairy -tale "Jack and the Bean Stalk". I often wondered what the world would -look like from the top of that huge old fir tree. I finally worked up -the courage to attempt the climb and found it to be quite easy. There -were plenty of limbs to grab ahold of as I ascended to the top. I never -really felt any great fear as I climbed up that tree. I didn't tell -anybody about my daring climb because I was fairly certain that my -parents wouldn't approve. I made it up to the top of that tree where -the trunk was not very large and decided that was far enough. I had -proved I could do it and I was ready to come back down. One false move -and I would certainly have fallen to my death from about 80 feet in the -air. If you were one of my children or grandchildren watching from -heaven, you might have had reason for great concern. After all, I was -not only risking my own life, but all of yours too. You might still be -stuck in heaven waiting for your next ticket to come to earth because -your foolish grandpa fell out of that tree and broke his neck. Anyway, -you are reading this story, so I must have been OK. - -## Planting Trees - -The first trees I planted are possibly a whole forest of fir trees now, -but I will likely never know. The first summer after I returned home -from Brazil, I was hired to plant fir trees on a piece of logged off -land owned by Jim Granger, a good friend of my father. I'm not sure, -but I seem to remember that there was a government grant program that -encouraged people to replant their land with trees after the mature -lumber trees had been harvested by the logging companies. Accordingly, -Brother Granger obtained hundreds of young fir seedlings and hired me -and another college student to plant them. I remember trudging over the -hills for many hours with a bundle of young trees and a shovel. It was -back-breaking work, but it was somewhat satisfying to think we were -contributing to a program that would make the world a more beautiful -place. Hour after hour I pushed the shovel into the ground, pushed it -over to the side to create a space in the soil, shoved a seedling into -the opening, removed the shovel, stomped on the dirt around the young -tree, then took three steps and repeated the same sequence. I've often -wondered what ever happened to those trees, but I never had a chance to -go back there again. - -The next trees I planted were in American Fork, Utah. Lori and I had -purchased a starter home in a small neighborhood next to the railroad -track and the freeway. After the house was built and the yard was -planted in grass, I planted two red-leafed ornamental maple trees in the -front yard along with a northern pecan tree beside the driveway. In the -back yard I planted a peach tree, a red delicious apple tree and two -cherry trees. They were all part of an ambitious back yard garden plan -that included strawberries, raspberries, asparagus and a vegetable plot. - -We waited for several years while the fruit trees grew big enough to -finally start growing fruit. About the third or fourth year later, the -apple tree burst forth with hundreds of white blossoms after the winter -finally gave way to spring. Lori and I were so excited to see all those -blossoms because they meant we would soon enjoy the delight of -harvesting our first apples from that tree. Alas, it was not to be. A -few days later, I came home from work to learn that Emily, our oldest -daughter, had climbed into the tree and picked every last one of those -blossoms off the tree. I guess she was making "popcorn balls that would -smell so sweet" or some silly thing, but she managed to totally collect -every single one of those little white blossoms. Needless to say, she -got in big trouble for her sinister prank. Her punishment was that she -had to give me her most precious stuffed animal for the rest of the -year. I felt that she needed to understand what it felt like to lose -something that was very important to her. Then she might understand what -she had taken from me. Perhaps I over-reacted a little, but it seemed to -make some kind of twisted sense at the time. - -## Living with Trees in Maine - -My family moved to the state of Maine in 1989. We lived on an acre and a -half of forest. It was composed of mostly Eastern white pine trees with -a little bit of oak mixed in. One scruffy giant was directly in front of -the house beside the driveway into the garage. It was ancient and -knobby, but interesting to look at. Due to the location of the house, we -seldom experienced much direct sunlight because of all the trees. - -I did plant a spruce tree in the forest there, but only because it was a -gift and I didn't know what else to do with it. Now, I always enjoy the -opportunity to plant a tree, but while I lived within such an abundance -of trees already, I decided it would also be a bit of fun to cut one -down. Allow me to explain. - -After one particularly long and cold winter, we discovered that one of -the trees in the forest had died. We had a wood burning stove in the -house, so I decided I would cut down that dead tree and use it for fuel -in our stove. The technique is fairly simple, but fraught with an -element of danger. Trees as big as the dead one are large enough to -cause a great deal of damage if they fall on something like a house. -Therefore, I studied the problem for quite a while and came up with a -plan to make the tree fall in just the right direction to avoid any harm -to myself or the forest. I used my trusty Stihl chain saw to cut a notch -at the base of the tree on the side where I wanted it to fall. Then I -made the final cut on the opposite side of the tree and watched with -apprehension as the old giant slowly started to lean and fall. It -gathered more and more momentum as it continued to fall, but the -direction of the fall wasn't precisely what I had tried so hard to -engineer. There was a young tree about 40 feet tall and 8 inches in -diameter in the path of the falling giant. The big tree snapped the -smaller tree just like a little toothpick and hit the ground with a -whoosh and a big thump. The ground shook from the impact and there were -a lot of frightening snapping sounds as tree branches splintered and -flew in the air. I breathed a sigh of relief after the dust settled and -I could see that no one had been sent to heaven with my little logging -stunt. I have to admit that the excitement and the suspense of the -experience got my heart rate up pretty high. I could get used to that -kind of destructive fun. - -Finally, I'll conclude my little epistle about trees with a description -of the ice storm. Probably somewhere in the vicinity of 1995 we had an -unusual weather phenomenon where the air was freezing cold at ground -level, but not at higher altitudes. The moisture in the air condensed -into rain which froze into solid ice upon reaching the ground. The ice -formed on everything to a depth of about an inch. It turned everything -in the forest into a magical crystal garden. This rare spectacle would -have been quite delightful to experience except for the fact that the -weight of the ice caused a terrible destruction of the trees in the -forest. When we woke up on the first morning after the ice storm, the -view outside looked like a war zone. Many of the trees had fallen over -due to the tremendous weight of the ice on their branches. One large oak -tree on the other side of the road in front of our house split right -down the middle. Fortunately, none of the falling trees caused any -damage to our house, but I can't say the same for the power lines that -brought us life-saving electricity in the winter months. Most of the -power distribution system in the whole state of Maine had been badly -damaged. The consequence was that we were completely without any -electricity for a period of 5 days. We managed to keep the house warm by -burning wood in our stove, but this only kept the family room warm, -while the rest of the house was like living in a refrigerator. I -remember that the greatest hardship was not having any light in the -house in the evening. We had a few candles to make a little bit of -feeble light, but it was difficult to even read a book in those -conditions. - -The other frightening thing I remember was the noise in the night-time. -While I was in my bed trying to sleep, I was often awoken by the sound -of crashing branches in the forest. Many of the branches of the pine -trees had hundreds of pounds of ice clinging to them. All this weight -caused a curious thing to happen to the trees. The branches would -literally be pulled out of the trunk of the trees. Whenever a branch -finally lost its battle with gravity, there would be a sharp cracking -sound followed by a thundering crash as the branch and hundreds of -pounds of ice plummeted to the forest floor. It was difficult to sleep -under these conditions. All night long the forest echoed with the sound -of crashing ice avalanches as the trees were decimated by the load of -ice. I can imagine it might have been like the bombing raids that were -conducted at night during the world wars. - -Finally, after 5 days, the power was restored and life moved on. The -experience certainly made me appreciate the simple things we had to do -without when there was no power. I could go on and on. Trees are still a -big part of my life in the state of Washington. They are a fascinating -form of life that brings beauty and richness to my mortal experience. |