A tree grows in Columbia

I've told you before about the massive White Oak that dominates our yard.

The base of its trunk is but a few yards from our front porch and its canopy completely shades our abode.

Well. In the past few years it seems to me that the tree has enjoyed a growth spurt.

As in, branches that one once had to look up to see, are now hanging directly in the line of sight and drooping lower by the week.

On one side, the oak is reaching out to a crape myrtle and practically doing a secret handshake.

I mentioned this to TG.

"Why don't we ask Jim Dicker to come have a look at it," I suggested.

Jim Dicker, an old friend of TG's and mine, and a good man, is a certified professional arborist.

As in, all he does is take care of trees.

And he has more work than he can do.

You may recall several years ago when Andrew was involved in a serious car accident in which a lady died.

In fact, it was determined that she died before her vehicle hit the heavy flatbed in which Andrew was riding shotgun.

The driver, John, was Jim Dicker's main tree-climbing crew member at the time. Andrew was seasonal help.

John and Andrew were hauling a load of tree-cutting debris to where it was to be offloaded so that they could go to another jobsite and trim some more.

The poor doomed lady's car crossed the center line upon her demise, and as it was a back road with a high shoulder, John had nowhere to go.

We were so grateful that neither John nor Andrew suffered more than a few scratches and bruises.

Jim Dicker's work truck was totaled, though.

And it was Jim Dicker who, a decade ago, at our request drove out to the house we lived in before this one, to inspect a wall-like hedge of Redbuds for blight.

Others had pronounced the Redbuds a lost cause, but Jim Dicker took one look and said: "They'll be okay."

And they were.

Too bad Jim could not have told us our house would be okay too, as that was the one which, in a future dry December, neighborhood kids careless with fireworks nearly burned to the ground.

But Jim's not an arsonist; he's an arborist.

At any rate Jim called me yesterday as I was approaching home, having gone graving on a lovely gray, chilly, windy day.

He said he was minutes from our house and that Greg had asked him to look at our tree, and would it be okay if he swung by.

Sure, I said. Because I'd be there within minutes myself.

Jim spent some time inspecting our tree and frankly admiring it for being a specimen of a magnificent healthy White Oak.

He said it didn't technically need pruning, but that if it were his tree, he would tweak it here and there.

As he wrote the estimate for the work, Jim elaborated on when the work should be done.

"Not now," he counseled. "In the dormant time, after all the leaves have fallen off."

We're talking January or February. And since Jim's estimate was so reasonable, I imagine we'll be having that done.

Meanwhile the scrappy squirrels that swarm this tree are safe for many months to come. Their squeaky autumnal squawks are so cute.

As Jim was concluding his visit, he noticed TG's truck that the neighbor's tree fell on fifteen months ago.

TG has never gotten the smushed truckbed fixed, and in fact he no longer drives the truck.

It needs a clutch and at least one new tire.

Jim's eyes lit up. "Does he want to sell it?" he wanted to know. When it came to vehicles, Jim was clearly ready to branch out.

I called TG, who said he'd sure think about it and get back to Jim with a price.

I imagine some dickering with Dicker is in our future.

But not too much, I hope. Friends like him don't grow on trees.

And that is all for now.

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Happy Wednesday

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Comments

[Mari]

What a beautiful tree - and what a good friend! Bonus for selling a truck without advertising or going through the hassles that usually occur in that situation!

[irene]

You're very lucky to have such a talented friend. I'd love to know how to tweek my trees. I just hack away and hope they survive.

[Skunkfeathers]

Magnificent tree and friend.