prairie point

This has been a season of tree loss.

In the big wind and rain storm of last month we completely lost a small oak near the house whose trunk was split about five feet up from the ground. More significantly we lost several large limbs from the big cedar elm that sits near the front walk. That tree dominates the front yard and provides a great deal of shade and cooling not only to the yard but the house in the morning as well. It’s a nicely shaped tree also, with a tall straight trunk and a well-shaped canopy too. This weekend the cedar elm lost another big limb to high wind, further enlarging the hole in the canopy.

A couple years back the utility company dug a trench in their right of way through the yard which went through it’s root structure. I worried at the time that the tree might suffer as a result. Although the limb loss is obviously the result of wind it might not have been as severe if the tree had been healthier.

We also lost a huge limb from a pecan out back over the weekend. On top of that the trunk of a cherry laurel split and the tree probably cannot be salvaged.

The pecan limb split off about twenty feet up and fell with the top resting across our power line and the base of the limb still hanging by a thread to the trunk. After studying it a bit, Tricia and I decided we could bring it down by ourselves. I tied a rope around the limb as high up as I could reach and then pulled on the rope to swing the limb out as far as it would go. Then I let go and let it swing back. After the third repetition of this, the top of the limb let go and slithered down the trunk, while the top of the limb glided out along the power line. As the limb attained a horizontal position the base crashed down to the earth pulling the top off the power line, without damaging it.

I spent the rest of the Sunday afternoon with the chain saw, cutting up the limbs and the remains of the cherry laurel.