Today is Fence Repair Day here.
We had a big rain and wind storm last week and an old, dead alder tree fell on the electric fence that surrounds our sheep pasture. Don’t tell the coyotes that live in the woods outside the fence this, but there is no “pop” in the wires that separate the coyotes from our chickens and our sheep. That situation will be remedied today.
A cedar tree, this one living, was another casualty of the storm. The wind blew so hard that some of the roots of the cedar pulled up out of the soggy earth. When the storm had passed, the tree was left tipping precariously at about a 45-degree angle. Some of the roots held, but I worried that the cedar (with a trunk perhaps a foot-and-a-half in diameter) might one day fall on one of our sheep. Yesterday I used a chainsaw to cut the tree down. I hated doing it. I admired the way the tree was clinging to life.
I would not make a good logger, and Leah would not be a good logger’s wife. She stood and watched as my saw made about a two inch cut into the cedar. The tree bent even further. The trunk cracked and snapped. The cedar fell to the ground with a crash.
I looked at Leah and saw that there were tears in her eyes.
