July 16th, 2018
I don’t have any picture for this event. Amir and I had been out on Lot 4 for an hour, taking down the underbrush up to the road with our tree trimmers, thinking that we would leave the bigger work for when chain saw arrived for us. I hadn’t had breakfast. We went in to eat something. Just as I sat down, a day-old hamburger pattie in my hand for breakfast, Glen came in and pulled his chair close to mine. He said, “The first thing a forester asks is what do I have permission to do on the land, and what do you want me to do?” Miranda had said that anything was good.
I had asked Glen to take down a few trees for me.
What I didn’t expect was Glen’s truck, Laynie, Connor, Landon and Piper – all willing to work for a morning to take down some of the trees on Lot 4, so that the underbrush would be gone, and the tall shade trees left.
Glen used the chain saw. The rest of us pulled brush. One. Two. Three. Four trucks loads of trees of varying sizes. There were branches, limbs of trees and boles (the correct names for the trunk of a tree – apparently only elephants have trunks).
We yanked and pulled and loaded the back of the truck, me each time thinking this would be the last load. Connor and a passenger would go down to the burn pile to unload and by the time they got back Glen had bucked up enough wood to fill the truck again. Now I can see from my house, through to the boat trailer shed and to the cabin.
Then we changed rhythms, going to the lakeside of the cabin and working on the underbrush there. Five. Six. Seven. Eight loads of trees left Lot 4 and are now at the burn pile. Only the towering Douglas Firs remain at the lake side of the lot. The undergrowth is now partially cut out and a view of the lake is possible from that spot.
Connor thinks a big deck should be built under those trees. Glen thinks that just putting down a few picnic tables will do the trick. Landon, Piper, Michael and Alice were playing on the equipment that is in that spot, swinging from a line that does much the same job as monkey bars might do. I was thinking, “How strange. These children will grow up thinking that a view like this is accessible to everyone.”
Amir was asking me the name of one of the branches that was left behind. He had picked up a soft green cedar bough and we were looking at it. I was preparing to tell him that these are the boughs to sleep on, if one is lost in the forest. Amir wanted to know more about the trees. Glen told us that the White Pine were the trees closer to the house, the trees with the very large pine cones. Oh, the smell was beautiful this morning, – the fresh cut wood, the branches, the air.
I watched the trees fall over the bank and down toward the road. Those would be the last of the trees to be picked up, since they required the truck to get past the burn pile and to those fallen trees. Glen yelled up to Michael, "Hey, here is a bank where you can scramble." That is because Michael has just learned the word scramble, and has been testing it out.
On the way up from the beach tonight, Michael, Alice and I stopped to find the place on the road where they had done this work. We could tell where it was by the sawdust there. We also examined the bank which is good for a scramble. It was very close to dark. The sun had set and the moon was in a crescent. Michael was sure there were bears present in every thicket of trees of rustle of grass. Perhaps "The Bear Went Over the Mountain" is not the last campfire song a child should hear.
The new view of the lake was wonderful to me this morning. I was overwhelmed with the generosity of Glen, Laynie, Connor and Amir.
Laynie said that Glen works tomorrow and the next day, but they will be back some time on Thursday to do more work for us for he has taken the day off.
I have no way to repay. I am sure others will know how I feel when they have experienced such acts of generosity.
Arta
