Around mid-October, there is no sight more glorious than that of a 50 or 60-year-old maple tree. Autumn’s entire palette is on display in a spectacular, flashy final blast of life cycling through toward another year’s end.
I have enjoyed such a tree on my property, among hundreds of other trees, right outside my front door for the more than 35 years we’ve been in our house. As much as one woman can love a tree, I have adored this maple tree.
About 20 years ago, we had to sever a large limb near its base and about a year ago, we had some limbs trimmed. Otherwise, the maintenance has just been a matter of collecting up the orange, red and yellow at her base and looking skyward to watch the late day sun to paint her glory on a sapphire sky.
About two years ago, we had a pretty clear sign of trouble as a fairly significant limb broke off and landed on our roof, impaling itself there until removed. We’d been talking about replacing the roof, but the talk became action as the maple tree breached into the attic.
About a month ago, I was rocking on the porch, watching the grandsons play and I looked skyward. There, I saw a very large limb, broken off and resting in lower, smaller limbs. This was about 60 feet in the air, so if it broke loose and fell (right where the kids were) … well, let’s try not to think about that.
We got estimates. All agreed, the base of the tree now was significantly diseased and hollowed out. Time to take ‘er down. Because it was so near the house, this had to be done in sections, lowered by ropes and so on.
So we had the work scheduled and when the first tree guy was a no show, we went to plan B – another tree guy (actually, a team of guys).
What we did not plan for was this wild storm that blew through on the Sunday night of New Year’s weekend. When I went to the front door as my grandkids arrived on Monday morning, my four-year-old grandson dramatically announced, “There’s a HUGE tree down in your yard and if it hit your house you would be DEAD!”
Well, Happy New Year to you, too!
I stepped out on the porch to find an extraordinary sight. One of our pine trees (about 50 or 60 feet tall) was twisted off about 25 feet up and dropped along the front of the house. How it missed the house, I can only guess, but my grandson’s assessment was quite right. That thing would have been catastrophic if it had landed differently.
So, as we all watched anxiously waiting for a maple limb to fall into the kids’ sandbox, this lowly pine tree looked around and said “hold my beer.”
As we await the arrival of our next winter event, my message is this: Be aware as you’re out walking the dog or scraping snow and ice off your car. Look up. Watch the trees, especially if it’s windy. Then, get out your sled, put on your mittens and have a blast!
Jean Bolduc is a freelance writer and the host of the Weekend Watercooler on 97.9 The Hill. She is the author of “African Americans of Durham & Orange Counties: An Oral History” (History Press, 2016) and has served on Orange County’s Human Relations Commission, The Alliance of AIDS Services-Carolina, the Orange County Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, and the Orange County Schools’ Equity Task Force. She was a featured columnist and reporter for the Chapel Hill Herald and the News & Observer.
Readers can reach Jean via email – jean@penandinc.com and via Twitter @JeanBolduc
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