When we moved to Worthington in June of 2008, we chose a house with a massive bur oak tree in the backyard. If you've followed this blog for a while, you will surely remember many great stories and photos about this tree. The tree is truly massive, weighing an unbelievable amount- there's probably 250 TONS of wood suspended in the air in our backyard.
Well, since October 2013, we have been falling out of love with the tree. One morning that fall, we awoke to a massive limb down in the backyard, having fallen overnight during calm weather. At that time, we scheduled a tree company to take the tree down, but at the last minute, I made the call to give it one more chance.
Last Friday, Megan was at home, in her office, when this massive limb fell in a wrenching force. If With the help of my dad, we've cleaned up most of the downed leaves. If anyone had been in the impact area, they would not have stood a chance. Thank God no one was injured, however, this giant limb remains perilously attached by a thread, threatening to fail at any minute.
Knowing that we can just not live with this anymore, Megan and I have decided without doubt that it is time for our family to say goodbye to the backyard bur oak.
|
The Old Bur Oak in 2009 |
When our house was built in 1966, this was literally the only tree on the block, as seen below in this photo hosted on the Worthington Memory website.
We have tried to be good stewards to the tree. As you can see, the tree is a part of the neighborhood and beloved by many. The three former owners before us obviously loved and cared for the tree. We have tried to keep that legacy, unfortunately, this is a decision that was just too easy to make; we cannot live with this risk anymore. The tree will be taken down within the next two weeks.
Perhaps one of the reasons that the limb failed this season is that the tree had an incredible year of growth, producing a flush of leaves and an incredible amount of acorns. Weston and Brody love the tree, and this is a difficult decision to explain to young boys. "Don't you love nature, Dad? If you cut the tree, you are destroying nature!?!" Yes, Weston, but we are fortunate this year that we have dozens of acorns to collect. We can plant these, and grow many more young bur oaks, trees that we will gladly give to any friend that has plenty of space for a wonderful shade tree to watch and grow.
Goodbye old girl!
-Tom