Winter Reruns?

We've been so busy here, celebrating Mac's birthday with a great party last Saturday and now working on getting the bedding plants repotted that I find my time is so limited it's painful! I'm putting a re-run and hopefully will be back within the next two days! Hope you won't mind to much!


A few years ago my husband Mac and I went out on a limb. No, really. We ACTUALLY went out on a limb. Going through our library of gardening books looking for "how to prune Pecan trees" we decided we pretty well knew what to do and how to do it. We assembled saws and ladder, (including a chain saw. ) There was only one pecan tree to make the pruning attempt upon, but it was so large it was like pruning three trees. We attacked it from about 8 different directions and all was going well. My nerves over the use of the chain saw were taken in hand and I found that I could assist Mac without having a breakdown. We were on the last limb when disaster struck. The chainsaw became lodged in the limb. Mac told me to climb up on the ladder and push up on the limb in an attempt to free the chain saw. So, in our attempts to free the saw from the grip of the limb, I pushed a little harder than maybe I should have. The limb exploded, the ladder flid out of place, fell to the ground and I hit the pavement...I broke two ribs and as we learned later, my neck. I swore that I would never attempt such a thing again.

Well, that was then, this is now. We have this apple tree here at the new house. It is a very big old apple tree. Limbs are growing willy-nilly and crossing over, going straight up, curving around. And to top it off, it had a terrible case of fire blight. Mac started out spraying it to kill the fire blight. The first spring we had such beautiful flowers and soon there was fruit. The fruit wasn't pretty to look at. Due to the trees diseased state, the fruit fell off the limbs to soon. We decided the tree needed lots more work. We tackled this job Tuesday.

Mac got out the (new) ladder and the chainsaw. I had the loppers in hand and got the smaller branches on the bottom that were growing in all directions. Mac cranked the chainsaw and I stood back as far as was humanly possible to stand and still remain in sight. After a few limbs were expertly trimmed from the main trunk of the tree, I was coaxed closer, Mac assuring me that all would be well this time.

There was one limb that went straight up out of the main trunk and took up much sunlight for something that was dead as a hammer. This branch was as big around as a man's leg. It was very hard wood and Mac was having a time getting the saw to cut through it. Hesitantly, I approached the tree and tried to help. Finally, we tied a rope around the limb and using the tractor, pulled it down and out of the way.

There was much pulling, tugging, twisting and straining to make this tree look as good as it does right now. We hauled limbs till dusk. This time there were no accidents involving the tree, and I didn't get knocked off the ladder by a sizable limb. I just feel as though I had been. The difference in five years from then till now is amazing. We did the job on Tuesday. This is Friday. Recovery may take a while. I remember my mother singing "too old to cut the mustard anymore." Those words speak volumes.