It is ALIVE!!!!!

In case you're not hearing it in your head as I intend it to be heard, you have to think back to the very old, black and white version of the Frankenstein movie, here, watch this...


OK, so now you're hearing it right.  So what am I talking about?  Well, what could I be happy to see springing to life?  

Think back to January and our awful ice storm.  There were lots of trees completely torn apart, some were nearly shorn of all their limbs, some were damaged to a point that they just had to be removed.  I had one that had splayed open but when the ice melted was standing fairly well.  The redbud tree near my arbor in my back yard.




A couple years ago it had a pretty good twist and split going on in the trunk so Rick made a figure "8" out of wire to support the drooping half and keep it from falling.  When it was covered with an inch of ice that wire held the 2 halves together so the whole thing was unable to just split apart.  




When the storm cleanup began I lopped the branches on that redbud and studied up on how to save a tree with broken limbs or other major damage.  I found out that boring straight through and bolting it together is a safe method of tree repair.  The most important thing is to keep the bark intact, that's what'll kill a tree for sure, to remove too much bark.




So Rick and I used ratcheting tie-downs and 2x4 leverage to pull the two halves back to a fairly solid trunk again.  Then I bored holes through the 9 inch trunk and inserted threaded rod all the way through.  I put large washers and 2 nuts on each end and CRANKED hard.  I did 3 rods and it looked pretty good.  But will it sprout?




Seeing that I cut off the branches that would normally sprout the leaves I had to wait longer than normal to see if I had, indeed, saved my tree.






When I got back from Hawaii in late May this is what I saw:


IT IS ALIVE!!!!

1 cats hacked up hairballs:

Maggie June 11, 2012 at 6:28 PM  

Ah such a delite to behold. They recover just like people and animals that are cared for.

About Me

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After 2 unsuccessful marriages I spent 12 years as a divorcee, only to fall prey to another man's wiles. We had a fun 5 years together and then he decided he wanted more freedom so once again I'm single.

So I'm freshly divorced at 57 and have 5 great kids and now 7 grandkids. My kids are still a major part of my life but I'm busy helping my aging parents on Kauai.

I've lived in California, Hawaii and Oklahoma before finally settling here in Washington. I love Washington and come back to visit family, friends and take care of my garden often but will be temporarily a resident of Kauai.

I've moved 30 times in my life (no, my parents weren't in the service, at least not since I was about 2) and finally planted roots when I got my little house that I've owned since '91.

My family are Jehovah's Witnesses, I've been one since '72.