On Tuesday the Tree Came Down

I had a full day of school planned--no calendared interruptions.

But then the tree guys came.

Our gorgeous, huge, very old tree in the center of our back yard--the one that shaded our deck and the chicken coop and held the rope swing--died.

We don't know why.

We grieved.

But it was such a big tree, so close to our house that we knew it had to come down under supervision before it came down in a storm.

(Which would crush our upstairs bedrooms . . . and their precious occupants!)

The tree guys showed up during morning meeting.

"You may watch the workers if you finish your breakfast and if you listen to the scriptures.  If you cannot finish eating, and you choose not to listen, you may not watch the workers."

They tried.

We closed the blinds.

Then they succeeded.

I put away my school goals for the day, and we watched the tree guys at work.

The rule was they must stay on the deck or the deck stairs . . . here they are watching the tree guys back a truck up our hill.

Good bye, sand pit.  Took us a month to make; took the tree guy 3 minutes to destroy.  But it was the only way to get the articulated boom lift to the tree.

Leveling the articulated boom lift took a long time in our hilly, uneven yard.

Then the tree guys got to work cutting down limbs.


They had no problem letting us watch, but they did warn us to back up just in case as they worked on a few of the trickier limbs that swung close to the house as they fell.

Half gone!
The teens filmed the final fall, but I'd put my phone down earlier, so I failed to capture the incredible moment of hearing, feeling, and watching the trunk finally give way.

The crash was incredible!

It took the tree guys all of 15 minutes to gather up their equipment and leave, by which time all of the kids had sturdy shoes and socks on and were waiting at the deck gate for permission to explore the detritus.

(We got a discount on the tree felling by not having them clean up or cart anything away.)

We counted the rings as best we could . . . something harder to do that you'd think.  Our best guess is that our tree was about 100 years old.  Not old enough to have witnessed the pioneers walking past (we live on part of the Santa Fe/California/Oregon Trail--literally--there's a pioneer marker on our block showing a preserved wagon swale, and the trail went right around the bottom of our back yard long before it was our back yard) but old enough to have been a witness to history.

The first explorations

Triumphant explorers!

And the fairy house entrance.  Welcome!
Nature Angel discovered that a downed limb formed a perfect frame for building a fairy house--which the kids proceeded to do for the next 2 hours. (In spite of the 90 degree heat)

I had to practically drag them in the house for lunch!

Shhh!  Sleeping fairies!

I'm not sure where their wings went, but wings or no these fairies were undaunted about getting up to their "look out spots."



From left to right we can see Twig, Pumpkin, Sprout, and Lily.  Hazelnut (aka Brother) is inside the fairy house.  These fairies are on the look out for any danger or potential adventure!

We didn't do our usual school, but this particular Plan B was a really joyful day of learning and exploration!

Comments

  1. JenniferOctober 2, 2019 at 1:48 PM

    Sounds like a great day! I did not respond this way when they were putting in a gas line in front of our house last year and boy did I learn my lesson!

    ReplyDelete
  2. JudyOctober 2, 2019 at 5:02 PM

    What an experience!

    ReplyDelete
  3. DawnOctober 3, 2019 at 5:23 AM

    What an awesome day and learning experience. They even got to work on their emotional IQ's so they could make it out the door in the first place. Wonderful.
    Blessings, Dawn

    ReplyDelete
  4. grtlyblesdDecember 2, 2019 at 10:01 AM

    Oh, that looks like fun! I remember when we watched the concrete guys pour the widened section of our driveway. The poured out a little patch in the dirt for us to play in. The kids carved their initials, and we sprinkled it with glitter. It might not have been "school" in the traditional sense, but they learn about the world around them on these special days.

    ReplyDelete

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