Saturday, September 16, 2017

In Memory of the Birch

A sunny Saturday. Around here that means "outside project."  We have this big birch tree outside the back door. It's tall enough that I can sit in my bedroom or the living room on the 2nd floor and enjoy the leafy fall colors.  Unfortunately, in the last storm it lost quite a few branches. The top of the tree is dead.  The plan was to top the tree. Yes, I WAS a bit nervous about Michael climbing the ladder, with a chainsaw....but it had to happen. We knew if the big, dead, center came down it would hit the house.

Knowing we would be little help to the tree trimmers, Arielle and I went to Carr's to see if THEY had any Thompson Pumpkin Spice English Muffins. NO! They don't. I've checked the website, put in zip codes from Anchorage to Wasilla and they didn't ship any up here.  Our consolation was a hot chocolate and frappuccino at Starbucks.

Um....a bit more extensive than originally planned. This was needed. Check out the stump - it's hollow for a good part of it and the rest is so soft it crumbles....but it was OUR BIRCH. I loved the wind in the leaves. I loved the colors. It spoke to me of permanence and Alaska....this all got mixed up with, The Giving Tree, and I cried...and Arielle cried. The guys were perplexed and Cory was probably glad he was at work.

Michael promises me the other big birch in the yard is safe. He won't cut another before winter. He thinks it will come down in a storm....I am looking for another birch to house the tire swing...and it doesn't look promising.

I took my angst out on some cottonwood up front.  I beat them back from the rocks to uncover the strawberry patch. While at it I think I found a patch of roses....but it may be too difficult to get all the brush out from them.
Before 

After - though I still have some work to do

Dreaming of strawberries next year. Need to research if I should cover them or mulch them or anything.

Don't bother suggesting we plant evergreens or fruit trees....both are good options and being considered....but they won't be as big and tall as the birch....I am loving the fall colors - makes it hard to appreciate the evergreen right now.....We have lots of those too! Lots.  Just let me grieve the birch tree.....of course, Mary Ellen said birch is the best to burn...so it's better to burn it than have it fall on the house.

Lest any think Michael is an indiscriminate tree killer, he did buy some special goop to paint on the bark of trees out back where the previous owners horses ate the bark.