In Memory of a Walnut Tree
Dec. 14th, 2018 03:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aearwen2I now have a small inkling of what Celeborn must have felt after Galadriel and Nenya left Lothlórien. There is a tree-shaped hole in my world now, and I’m surprised to find myself genuinely grieving.
When my parents bought this property over 50 years ago, it came with an OLD, mature and heavy-bearing English walnut tree. In good years, it could produce – all on its own, mind you – over two hundred pounds of nuts per year. It stood a proud thirty-plus feet tall and was a lush green. It was the cornerstone of our homestead, and I’ve had it in my life for most of my life.
Long story short, California has suffered a devastating drought for many years, and that drought has hit this area particularly hard. Many trees – not just nut trees – have succumbed to the drought. We tried to water this one, but evidently our efforts were just not sufficient to its needs, or to the needs of the daughter tree that had sprouted about ten feet away and my dad allowed to grow.
The daughter tree died about five years ago – and finally broke off at ground level and fell in a storm with high winds this past winter, barely missing taking out dog houses and fences, and falling short of taking out my garage by maybe a foot. My daughter and I understood the message the Universe was sending us – especially since the mother tree, which had tried desperately to survive, had turned up its toes abruptly in September. That message was: “I can be merciful once. You need to take care of this NOW.”
Not exactly a message to ignore. Especially when a couple of friends told me that (1) the tree was leaning; (2) the ground was beginning to buckle and rise; and most importantly (3) if it fell in the direction it was leaning, it would take out my fence, the fence of 3 neighbors and at least two storage sheds. The tree had to go – it was dead, and no amount of wishful thinking was going to resurrect it.
Yesterday, I found a service who could do it within a budget that had already been cleaned out by needing to replace my car’s transmission. These guys will take payments, and asked a reasonable fee, given they didn’t need to haul it away. FWIW, Angie’s List for the win!!
That said, however, there will be no chipper for my old friend tree. The tree service isn’t going to judst haul it away to the landfill, or take it to a shredder. I have friends who want the wood for firewood and bonfire wood – beneficial uses for people I know and love. They will clean up the mess on the ground, and get hours of enjoyment from it. My tree will do one last service.
But the back corner of my property will be empty. And I will be sad for many days to come. Before the guys came, I went out and said goodbye, and shed my tears.
RIP old friend. You were steadfast and tall and so generous with your nuts, and you shared so many of my celebrations and needs for a shoulder to cry on. You will be missed.
In other news, inasmuch as I see I haven't posted for ages now, my husband went through a very bad period of kidney failure as well as the sepsis and congestive heart issues. But the good news is that he survived. He LIVED!!! At the end of August, they moved him into a local nursing facility (rather than hundreds of miles away) because he no longer needed dialysis (his kidneys started working again). He's been there ever since.
He can't walk. He still can't sit up unaided in bed. When they shift him to his wheelchair (and he finally has one that fits him!!) they need to put him in a sling and use a life. BUT... He's bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, has his sense of humor back. His leg wounds have HEALED to the point they no longer need bandaging, and he's making use of the exercise equipment to strengthen upper body muscles now.
This progress means I'm no longer in a deep, dark, depressing hole. Life is still difficult - he's still not home, I'm down to just me and JJ in the house - and we've had to weather a couple of fairly large financial hits (replace transmission - which took 3 weeks to accomplish - and now pay a service to take down the tree.) But we're still alive, still somehow keeping a fair percentage of our nostrils above water, and MY health has held steady. For that, and for the rest, I'm very grateful.
So there you are. Been a busy last couple of days, but at least I don't have to worry about my tree harming my property or the property of others anymore. The wind can blow through the leaves of the avocado trees that line my driveway, and I don't have to cringe in dread.
Life is good, it says in the fine print. For now, I agree.
When my parents bought this property over 50 years ago, it came with an OLD, mature and heavy-bearing English walnut tree. In good years, it could produce – all on its own, mind you – over two hundred pounds of nuts per year. It stood a proud thirty-plus feet tall and was a lush green. It was the cornerstone of our homestead, and I’ve had it in my life for most of my life.
Long story short, California has suffered a devastating drought for many years, and that drought has hit this area particularly hard. Many trees – not just nut trees – have succumbed to the drought. We tried to water this one, but evidently our efforts were just not sufficient to its needs, or to the needs of the daughter tree that had sprouted about ten feet away and my dad allowed to grow.
The daughter tree died about five years ago – and finally broke off at ground level and fell in a storm with high winds this past winter, barely missing taking out dog houses and fences, and falling short of taking out my garage by maybe a foot. My daughter and I understood the message the Universe was sending us – especially since the mother tree, which had tried desperately to survive, had turned up its toes abruptly in September. That message was: “I can be merciful once. You need to take care of this NOW.”
Not exactly a message to ignore. Especially when a couple of friends told me that (1) the tree was leaning; (2) the ground was beginning to buckle and rise; and most importantly (3) if it fell in the direction it was leaning, it would take out my fence, the fence of 3 neighbors and at least two storage sheds. The tree had to go – it was dead, and no amount of wishful thinking was going to resurrect it.
Yesterday, I found a service who could do it within a budget that had already been cleaned out by needing to replace my car’s transmission. These guys will take payments, and asked a reasonable fee, given they didn’t need to haul it away. FWIW, Angie’s List for the win!!
That said, however, there will be no chipper for my old friend tree. The tree service isn’t going to judst haul it away to the landfill, or take it to a shredder. I have friends who want the wood for firewood and bonfire wood – beneficial uses for people I know and love. They will clean up the mess on the ground, and get hours of enjoyment from it. My tree will do one last service.
But the back corner of my property will be empty. And I will be sad for many days to come. Before the guys came, I went out and said goodbye, and shed my tears.
RIP old friend. You were steadfast and tall and so generous with your nuts, and you shared so many of my celebrations and needs for a shoulder to cry on. You will be missed.
In other news, inasmuch as I see I haven't posted for ages now, my husband went through a very bad period of kidney failure as well as the sepsis and congestive heart issues. But the good news is that he survived. He LIVED!!! At the end of August, they moved him into a local nursing facility (rather than hundreds of miles away) because he no longer needed dialysis (his kidneys started working again). He's been there ever since.
He can't walk. He still can't sit up unaided in bed. When they shift him to his wheelchair (and he finally has one that fits him!!) they need to put him in a sling and use a life. BUT... He's bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, has his sense of humor back. His leg wounds have HEALED to the point they no longer need bandaging, and he's making use of the exercise equipment to strengthen upper body muscles now.
This progress means I'm no longer in a deep, dark, depressing hole. Life is still difficult - he's still not home, I'm down to just me and JJ in the house - and we've had to weather a couple of fairly large financial hits (replace transmission - which took 3 weeks to accomplish - and now pay a service to take down the tree.) But we're still alive, still somehow keeping a fair percentage of our nostrils above water, and MY health has held steady. For that, and for the rest, I'm very grateful.
So there you are. Been a busy last couple of days, but at least I don't have to worry about my tree harming my property or the property of others anymore. The wind can blow through the leaves of the avocado trees that line my driveway, and I don't have to cringe in dread.
Life is good, it says in the fine print. For now, I agree.
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