Goodbye to an old friend


In November, 2008, I wrote about how an early snow storm damaged a very large pine tree on our property. I write now to say that our old friend the grandfather pine is gone, cut down by forces of progress.


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As you can see, the pine sat right next to the town road, within the right-of-way that the town controls. Our highway superintendent and highway crew undertook a major road improvement project on the road this fall. The objective: a wider road with better lines of sight, so that two vehicles could pass each other safely. The crew blasted away bedrock with dynamite, brought in truckloads of fill, and felled many trees. The old pine was one of the last to go.

As it turned out, the tree was probably not long for the world. The inner core of the tree had a crack, and it was infested with carpenter ants.

I took photos this fall, gave the tree a pat, and said goodbye.



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I was at work when the tree came down. The crew dug up the stump with an excavator and pushed it aside.



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The tree used to grow - where exactly?



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The scent of pine hung in the air for days.


The crew cut a slab of the trunk for us, and we brought it to a protected spot on our deck. R. plans to make it into a table. All the ants are gone, fortunately!


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Comments

  1. JulesDecember 1, 2012 at 12:20 PM

    So Grandfather Pine will live on in a different form. A lovely tribute, A.

    xoxo

    ReplyDelete

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