The Arborist

Jon called to me yesterday afternoon after lunch, "Jane, come out here and look at this". It must have been the tone of his voice, but I didn't expect good news. He pointed to a mature tree by the side of our garage with a 4 ft. split in the crotch. That didn't look good. The crack was big enough to see through. He said he thought we better get that tree taken down. I concurred. It didn't look stable and a good wind would bring it down on our house or the neighbors fence as the best scenario.

I used to be annoyed picking flyers from tree trimmers off the front door or finding them in the mailbox. My do-it-yourself husband did it himself. About five years ago he had an accident trimming a branch off a tree while up about 10ft on a ladder. The branch gaveway before he cut all the way through, swung back at an angle not intended, and sent him flying. He was knocked out and didn't remember the details. Did I mention he was home alone at the time? He came to lying under the tree, unable to move. Finally, he hollared and got the attention of a woman walking by in front of the house. He had a broken pelvis and three broken ribs and his wife threw the ladder away. We pick up those flyers now from tree- trimmers.

After a little searching, we found the number for the last tree trimmer we used and left a phone message. He is also an older guy but hires young guys who climb like monkeys to do the climbing. This guy is short and round and said he quit climbing trees when someone told him he looked like a bear doing it. I bet he did. Anyway, he did not immediately call us back.

Mid-afternoon son Andy called. He asked if we had "funny weather"? We had overcast skies. While we were talking you could hear a siren in the background. He interrupted, "I better go. The tornado sirens are shreiking." I wasn't worried because he was seeking shelter, but did turn on the TV to see them scurry about warning about a funnel cloud north of St. Joe (where Andy goes to school). No touchdowns. It blew east. During our evening news, they again switched to weather reporting mode. This time it was the metro's turn to take shelter. Funnel clouds, big hail, heavy rain and winds up to 70 mph were in the west headed our way. We both thought of the bad tree. Jon joked maybe he could cinch it up with a chain. We then agreed in prayer to leave it to God. I was wishing we had noticed that cracked tree a couple days ago and our tree guy had taken it down. It wasn't going to make it in a big wind.

TV continued storm coverage for hours. Reporters were sent to show us the size of the hail, the flash flooding on the freeway and downed trees. One commented, "the arborists are probably cruising the neighbors offering their services". Maybe that is where our tree trimmers was last evening.
The good news, we got soaking rain but no wind. It all went south of us. We are thankful we aren't looking at daylight through a hole in the roof this am. Thank you Lord.