More than a tree

The tree saw today cut thru the dead wood with ease.


The tree had been dead for a year and had been left to stand guard over the west half of the yard.  The red wing blackbirds had used the tree as a lookout over the ever expanding marsh outside the fence line.  The goldfinches hadn't mind that this resting place was bare of leaves last season either.


My wife saw that the bark was peeling away on the tree today and mentioned maybe it was time to get someone to take it down.  That was my cue to handle the situation.  So, while she was taking a shower, I grabbed my saw and headed out to take care of business.


It really wasn't that old a tree.  We picked out this aspen and had it delivered 7 years ago this June.  My wife's mom was visiting at the time and she helped me place the tree in its new home in our backyard.


The ensuing seasons of drought and wind must have been too much for this tree.  Aspens prefer to live at much higher altitudes and this particular tree apparently could not cope with the conditions down below here in Windsor, Colorado.


So, with a kind of sad finality, I took down the aspen today.  There is a strange hole in the sky where it used to stand.  It looks empty, but it will be replaced with something.


As with all things in life, change is inevitable.  We will give the aspen a Viking funeral and burn it in the fire pit someday soon, because it was more than a tree.

A Thermos Full of Love

While watching a survivalist show on TV called "Dude, You're Screwed" tonight, I got a little chilled.  One of the experts survived 4 long days in freezing temperatures soaked to the skin.  At the end of his ordeal, they gave him a mug of hot liquid and a warm blanket.  This act motivated me to get off the couch and go make myself a cup of hot chocolate.


My wife had gotten me a Swiss Miss Milk Chocolate tin canister with individual packets inside for Valentine's Day, so I put water in the coffee single cup maker and poured the powder in the cup.  The water hissed as it boiled and soon I was sipping my warm reward.


Funny things you remember and as I sipped my cup of hot chocolate, a vivid memory came to mind from a time long ago back in Illinois when I was in grade school.  We had a playhouse within 10 feet or so of our kitchen in the backyard back then.  It had a shingled roof and a raised floor, but no windows.  Some friends from the neighborhood were over and we were playing in the playhouse in the middle of the winter.


Under gray skies and cold temperatures, we did whatever kids did back then to amuse ourselves in the dead of winter.  Then, we heard a call from my mom out the kitchen window.  She asked us if we wanted some hot chocolate.  We all said sure.  Then, the cool part happened.


Instead of going inside the house to warm up or my mom handing us the hot chocolate thermos, she rigged a clothes line from inside the house down into the playhouse.  She then ran the line thru the top of the thermos and slid it from her house into ours.


As we imagined surviving the harsh Illinois winter in our open air structure, our hot chocolate steam was all about us.  We sipped the magic and then went on with our lives.


One taste of the hot chocolate tonight, and this story poured out and came to life once more.  Funny the things you remember.  That thermos full of love was one I never forgot.