GUM TREES

GUM TREES


Ernesto was a scary storm this year and it wasn’t even a hurricane when it came thru here. But our ground is very wet and the winds have been tricky. A “simple” storm might have 25 mph sustained winds and then suddenly a blast of 60 mph whips things around in another direction and tops of trees just snap. Other people had their trees come out roots and all. I was grateful Vincent had taken down my biggest trees last year.

Vincent, out local “best” tree cutter came by Monday and started ridding the back yard of its gum trees. By Monday afternoon, he had cut down 6 trees. Wednesday, he cut down the next 2 trees. Cutting and cleaning up is not a rainy day job, but the rain stopped and the sun came out – for a while. He was back on Thursday to finish up and take down a cherry tree on the other side of the house. The cherry tree was very tall, had almost no branches, and was leaning toward the house.

Cherry tree in mid fall.
Eventually, he will take down the rest of the gum trees near the house. It is amazing how he calculates where he is going to drop a tree and how he ties things up to make sure they drop where he wants them to.

Fortunately for me and for Dave, a friend and neighbor, there will be plenty of wood to burn in 2008. Vincent cuts it up in small enough logs to be easily carted off, but charges extra to carry the wood away. So if I pay him to remove all the wood, he then turns around and sells it to somebody else. Usually he has already made those arrangements before he has even cut the first tree. But, I would rather give the wood to someone else for free. Well, if I were burning wood, it would be nice if someone gave me a few truck loads of wood. We burned gum for years at ERM’s house. It burns nice and slow, doesn’t spit or bang around in your stove – you just have to age it. Green gum won’t burn worth a hoot.

This will once again change my yard drastically in terms of sunlight and plants. I bet I can actually grow sun loving plants in the backyard next year. Ya think? My air conditioning bill will now be higher. Sigh. But at least I will not have those big trees leaning over the house nor will I have trash cans of gumballs to scoop up anymore. There are so many gumballs, I use a snow shovel and rake to scoop them up and dump in a trash can which I then haul off to the woods to dump – loads and loads of them!

“Vincent,” as he is known to those of us who have known him for years, has a heavy Jamaican accent. He loves to tell jokes. I miss half of what he is saying, but his laughter is so infectious, it really doesn’t matter, you just gotta laugh along with him. He is what we call a local character.

My neighbor, back behind me whose house I cannot see thru the woods, asked yesterday if I had Vincent cutting some trees for me. I said yes, of course. He said he thought he heard him laughing. He didn’t mention the sound of the chain saw, he mentioned hearing him laughing.