Is there anything doable right now that might make it easier to rest long term?
There was a tree with a twelve inch trunk in the field beneath the antenna that had missed being removed some years ago.1
At the time it was a small sapling, not much different than a weed. The size of a thin pencil, it could have been pulled out by the root with a swift tug in less than a second or two.
I’m sure something else seemed more important that day, or maybe the grounds crew was shorthanded that summer, maybe the bush-cutter’s tool broke that week or he was sick.
But I bet there was another distraction that seemed more flashy or fun—possibly disguised as important / urgent. And then by the end of the season its small trunk was the size of a dime.
Now, it even looked pretty as it grew in the field providing shade for the bush-cutter’s water bottle.
As time went by it started to look like part of the landscape, as if it belonged to the area. There were many other things to do and by now the tree was too large to whack down with the bush-cutting tools or pull-out by hand.
Someone did notice that it was getting large and it wouldn’t be long before it would be in the way of the winch cables, guy wires, and the feeder lines.
But people were busy and things needed done and trees grow slowly and over time, so it was decided (without an actual decision) to let it go till a later day.
Eventually one day it was no longer possible to function with the tree in the spot it occupied and something had to be done. It was determined it had to be removed, and quickly. So within a day or two the chainsaw was brought out and the smaller surrounding trees were cut back to gain access to the base of the now tall tree.
After some time and cutting, the trunk was exposed and accessible. Within several minutes the large tree was toppling over and came down to earth. The rings on the stump revealed it had lived there 10 full seasons.
Next the trunk was de-limbed and sawn into appropriate lengths so that two helpers could lift it into the loader bucket on a tractor. Many hours and several men later the tree was on a burn pile and waiting to dry-out.
But there still remained the large stump with long roots. if it was not removed it would soon be similar in size to what it was yesterday.
So the next day an excavator was brought to the site and the stump’s roots started being broken off until it was in a state that the large machine could break the final roots as it lifted the stump out of the ground.
It too was hauled to the burn pile to be dried out several months before it could be burned up. The men then got a load of dirt, filled the hole where the stump had been, and the job was done.
The many hours, even days, to clear, cut, haul, dry, dig, fill, and finally burn the tree have to be weighed against the second or two it would take to pluck that sapling out of the ground on the day it was due. On the day it was nothing more than a weed and not a tree.
That is what maintenance is and isn’t.
Is there any easy thing you can do right now that will make life easier later—and will give you a delicious sense of satisfaction now?
May your rest be sweet.
@
Thanks to my brother-in-law, Ben, for this one.