Willow Weep No More

The rains came and the temperatures dropped and over night Autumn swept in on our small house here in Utah. We still had the bedroom windows way open and I chattered most of the night—my own fault. I could have got a couple of comforters Dianne had piled at the end of the bed. But I was content to “igloo” up beneath my covers and my mid-morning I had generated enough heat in my sealed environment to be quite content. The room, though, definitely got chilly.

Earlier in the week the toilets started backing up and refusing to drain—if we let them set all night the toilet might flush in the morning but even the morning drain was getting “iffy”. Dianne finally called the rooter guy who came out rooted through the pipes reporting the pipes were clogged with tree roots. Roots from “Willow” a weeping willow Dianne planted more then a decade ago. Willow took off from the day it was planted growing a couple of feet a year. The joke was that I Willow had rooted into a city water main but in actuality the willow had found our sewage pipe. In no time the tree was huge, probably the most green thing in our yard. Willow's willows were graceful in the Summer breezes and offered me great shade from the Summers heat and sun's rays.. Willow was not a bad climbing tree but not many climbed. A granddaughter every now and then and Roy the neighbors cat more often then not.

We rooted through the pipes and forgot about the roots until this week. A couple of years ago the willow began listing toward the street. I had not really noticed but Dianne was aware of the list and began to worry that a great wind was going to come round and push the willow into the street. I was not worried though, the tree looked to have a substantial root system but this Spring Dianne pointed out where the trunk was beginning to cave in on itself, a kind of crumpling has began on the trees Eastern side. I had also noticed the willows were dipping closer and closer to the sidewalk Our Sister of the Perpetual Ride (OSOTPR) had taken to detouring into the street when she approached our house. When Dianne first broached the subject of taking down the tree earlier this Summer I passively resisted as best I could but clogged drains was something different . I think I had had time to say my good byes to the tree. I spent last Saturday morning raking up broken branches from a windy night. It was time for Willow to go.

A three man tree team came while I was working Friday making sawdust and a stump were the tree had stood. Dianne said the men were swift and efficient. The tree did fall into the street, as I had predicted the tree would if the tree ever did fall, to be sliced and diced with axes and chainsaw. The tree was gone in a manner of minutes. The tree takers also trimmed some noisy limbs in the back of the house too. Noises so loud and scary that Anakah will not sleep in the front room. But Willow is gone now like so many other things I thought were permanent. Maybe I am just being made ready.