Timber!

This weekend we finally said goodbye to an old friend.  Well, we've only known this friend for about 5 1/2 years-since we moved here, but it was old none-the-less.  We had an big oak tree in the front yard that we think was hit by lightning a couple years ago.  Over the last three years the drought has stressed it out and it finally decided to die.  It was very sad.  I loved it's big branches that shaded the yard.  It was so pretty in the summer covered with leaves and it always had that soothing rustle when the wind blew.

We started noticing something was wrong three summers ago.  That year it leafed out and we were hit by 100+ degree weather for several weeks in a row.  The heat together with very little rain stressed out a lot of plants and trees in our yard.  The oak lost it's leaves by early August and we thought that was strange.  That's when we think it was hit with lightning.  The next summer only about half of the tree leafed out.  We knew something was not right when that happened.  Watering and feeding just didn't snap it out of what we thought was going on.  We were just hoping it was trying to stay in it's dormancy state due to the stress.  We don't know much about trees, so we were just guessing at this point. 

Throughout the winter, we started noticing that the bark was falling off the branches at the top of the tree.  Smaller branches started to fall out when the wind would blow too, so we knew it was done.  By the time spring came around, the top branches were bare and falling apart.  Only one small branch tried to put on leaves.  They only lasted about a month and then turned brown.  We knew it had to come down before falling branches hurt someone.  Luckily it was a fairly straight tree and we could cut it down so it wouldn't take out any other trees or power lines.

My husband took the chain saw to it and cut a wedge out on the side that he wanted it to fall towards.  He started cutting on the back side of the tree and it finally popped and fell.  He was a little off on his wedge and the tree fell more towards our large sycamore tree.  It only took off a couple little branches from the sycamore.  Nothing too severe. 

Now we have this big open spot in our yard that I want to fill in.  I'm thinking another oak needs to go back there.  This time I'd like one that turns a prettier color than drab brown.  It does need to be a sturdy tree though.  We get lots of strong south winds in the summer that cause trees to lean.  One sycamore tree in the front yard is leaning to the north due to the wind when it was small.  No matter what we decide to plant, it will be nice to have a replacement out there that will grow into a big stong tree for the next generation. 

Shared at the Homestead Barn Hop