We had to take down one of our old oaks yesterday. I took a few photos as the crew worked to bring it down. (For the time being, they show up in the right column where current Flickr postings appear.)
The tree was alive still, but as you will see from the photos, it was dying a slow death, full of bugs and now cracked along the length of trunk and just waiting for a good wind to take it down into the power lines.
There was no way to know the age of the tree since about 75% or more of the interior rings had been eaten away by insects. The remaining wood, about two inches deep under the bark, was still very dense and heavy. But with the structural break, it had to come down.
The power company came out and disconnected the power line and stayed to reconnect, so we were only out of power about thirty minutes at most. Hughes Tree Service of Lake Jackson did the job and they were totally organized and planned it well. All done by 11 a.m. Good price, too. Call Mr. Hughes if you need help with a tree.
A little bit of old Lake Jackson gone. But we will plant another one there. Thinking about one of those Meyer lemons. It’s not an oak but it’s a tree. And lemonade is going to taste good in the summer. Notice that, after the water oak goes down, there is still lots of shade under another bigger, older live oak in our back yard.
More Coronavirus Spring photos at Flickr.
South of Town: Notes and Scenes from Texas' Upper Gulf Coast 