Big Gnarly Pine

[cantdog]

Out on the end of the point stood a very tall pine. The eagle used to use it to survey the bars that stretch out in a ragged line from the point's end nearly to the other side of the lake. It was struck by lightning two years ago, which gouged a trench vertically from apex to ground in the bark.

This year, it was clearly entirely dead, and it loomed over our camp. ("Camp" is the Maine term for a cabin in the woods. This one is of spruce logs, laid, and has been in my family since 1936.) The pine leaned toward it enough that the crown was nearly overhead, and all dead trees must fall. It weighs tons.

We gathered some friends and some equipment, and this weekend, by dint of science and craft, felled it in the opposite direction, directly into the one place it could fall without mangling other trees, except for one small cedar, which was pounded down flat, and two branches from two neighbor trees. Much could have gone wrong. The heart was rotten, though not yet hollow, to ten feet up, for instance. Bad wood in the hinge means that the hinge is inadequate, but I'd been conservative and had left a wider hinge in the cut. The tree was constrained. It untimately came down just as the cut's orientation told it to.

We shall miss the eagle and the shade, but I expect the nearby trees to throw out more branches toward the gap. Trees grow to exploit all such sudden accesses of sunlight.

Watching it go down was exalting. Perfection, man. We all got to feel relief and also strut about all manly for a while.

 

[Maeve_redux]

... and also strut about all manly for a while.

Which is the whole point of the exercise.

Sad to hear it had to go, but surely the eagle will find another nearby perch, and the remaining trees will provide shade within a couple of years. More importantly, you've got some nice dry kindling to last a good long while and the camp is left more or less intact, even if the skyline has changed a bit.

 

[cantdog]

Yeah. When I say relief, I really mean it. That thing, so fine to have nearby in its health, was very anxiety-provoking once dead. There were several other small tasks that really wanted doing this weekend, but I blew them off. Just thinking about dropping that thing made me sweat; worrying about it was a full-time job, man. Every time we made the landing we'd look across to see the dead top, and allow ourselves to breathe easy a moment, just because it had not yet crushed the camp.

Sometimes, it really is plain impossible to fell a tree in a direction it does not naturally already tend to go. You can fail. It's not hard to do.

Sunday, we kept looking over there and saying, "There is no tree." Which was absolutely a good thing. Lightning can and usually does do root damage. We had a certain amount of urgency. The water had entered the pierced bark, and grubs could be heard munching in there from ten meters away. Consequently woodpeckers had excavated, looking for the grubs (pine sawyer grubs are big!). Those woodpecker holes provided more access for more insects, and more water. The whole edifice was becoming weaker at quite a pace, and we could never be certain we'd be able to drop it in a safe place.

 

[cloudy]

I just wanted to tell you that I've missed you, cant.

 

[Maeve_redux]

Understood, all too well. There was a big oak hanging over the house back in the pre-divorce days that had been hit. The ex let it go until the branches were pressing against the roof. Every time the wind blew you could hear the supports creaking. It wasn't pretty. I finally had to put his father into the car, take him to the house, and drag him inside so he could hear it before anything got done.

We were extremely lucky the house was still standing by the time it was all done.

 

[cantdog]

The eagle will choose the next highest perch, of course, but we always, perversely, felt pride that she chose "our" tree. I watched her nuptial flights, once, from a boat.

We cut the fallen trunk into rounds about sixteen inches long, because, while white pine is just foam, it does burn, and it's pitchy enough to make decent smallwood. The rounds are pierced with grub holes and the ants are investigating them, too. We won't stack this wood near the rest of the woodpile, but it's already halfway seasoned.

An oak grows out and around more than up, in comparison to a big white pine in a forest setting. I have a rule never to operate a chain saw hanging off a tree in midair, but in town, near a house, sometimes you have to disassemble a tree rather than simply fell it. Every case presents its own problem.

 

[cantdog]

I just wanted to tell you that I've missed you, cant.

Me, the same, conversely, if you follow. I go through periods of impatience with the place, but Certain People always bring me back because I can't envisage staying away from them. Like you..

 

[dr_mabeuse]

There are some things that we were just made to look at, like fire, and the ocean, and the stars. And there's some work we were just made to do. Like outdoor work. I know what that feels like--how ridiculously good and clean. I'm glad for you, Cant.

--Zoot

 

[cantdog]

There are some things that we were just made to look at, like fire, and the ocean, and the stars. And there's some work we were just made to do. Like outdoor work. I know what that feels like--how ridiculously good and clean. I'm glad for you, Cant.

--Zoot

Thanks, Zoot. I was exorbitantly pleased with myself about the whole thing.

 

[Guest]

Thanks, Zoot. I was exorbitantly pleased with myself about the whole thing.

The BGP is down, no injuries, no damage to camp.

And manly strutting as well.

Well done, Fireman.

 

[cantdog]

The BGP is down, no injuries, no damage to camp.

And manly strutting as well.

Well done, Fireman.

One of our number was a Latin teacher. His were the arms which swung the maul, reversed, to pound in the biggest wedge. He did mucho mucho manly struttage. It was a a delight to behold.

 

[Guest]

One of our number was a Latin teacher. His were the arms which swung the maul, reversed, to pound in the biggest wedge. He did mucho mucho manly struttage. It was a a delight to behold.

My needs are simple.

I really like that mucho manly struttage.