Channelling Paul Bunyan

Yesterday I got to wield an AXE!

We have this huge tree in front which I love - it is a Sissoo tree; the nursery man said the leaves were the closest thing to a quaking Aspen that can survive the Arizona heat. I miss Aspens, they seem to have a wonderful personality and they just make me think of cool, tall mountains.

But it has really gotten big and Jim keeps saying he wants to have it taken out. It gets pretty bushy and he worries it will get knocked over in a big storm and slammed right into our house. I defend it and its trembling leaves. I've loved it since it arrived our first winter - spindly and devoid of foliage... it looked so lonely and had like two leaves left after the truck ride from the nursery; Jenn Johnson called it our Charlie Brown tree.

But it grew big, right next to our grass, and that became a little bit of a problem. We had a front lawn for 10 years and the shallow watering brought the tree's roots to the surface. We began seeing an occasionaly sprig pop up in the lawn. We took out the lawn and they covered it all with plastic and rocks, but nature was not to be denied. 'Volunteer' trees started popping up here and there over several months. These tree-wannabees really were just branches themselves, coming up off of parts of the tree's root that saw enough sun, it got a rough bark and sent out these sprigs.

We kept trying to trim them short, but that didn't work; in fact, it made the opposite effect, they seemed to come back in force, multiplying like some magic dragon head - you cut it off and two more grow back.

So I got me an axe! Well, we had it hanging in the garage, we haven't used it for anything in AZ yet. I'd forgotten how heavy it was, and when I took it down I nearly lost control and put it through the car window! Whew, that was close.

But that weight is what makes it so effective. And evidently it is plenty sharp, it did such a wonderfully quick job hacking out these tree roots. I got out all but a big one in the middle of the yard that may require a chainsaw most likely. I'm sure Brent and Alec will LOVE that job!

The photo shows a clumpy one that had been down among the streambed near the street, it was quickly becoming a virtual forest. When I dug away all the stones and revealed the root, I could see it had become this fat knob full of baby tree branches. But 10 minutes of chopping away with the axe at the root on either side finally got it out. (preceded by 20 minutes of clearing away rocks and dirt under and around it so I wasn't whacking into all the rocks there.)

So there you have it, my deforestation of our little yard in the desert, something I NEVER thought I'd be doing after leaving the woods of Massachusetts!