Friday, February 19, 2010

Doing laundry.

In the business world there is a term for cleaning up things that have been hanging out there to long and need to be dealt with. Like dirty laundry that has been in the hamper too long, It begans to smell. So every now and then a business will do what is called "doing laundry". And they will deal with things that are long over-do, like a blog post.

There is a rumor out there that I'm remodling the store, and building new check stands. Every now and then, I see a friendly familiar face poke in the front door to make sure that I'm busy. The news seems to end up back on my blog that, sure enough, I'm building something. Others speculate that I'm on vacation.

Oregon wrote:
”If Ernie is building something you can take my word for it, he is on vacation.”

Oregon knows me all to well. There is nothing quite as much fun as building something. Oregon and I built many things together as kids, he went on to be a world class saw-filer, and I went on to be a refrigeration guy.

You city folks probably don't know this, but the saw filer is the guy that makes a sawmill run. Whether the mill makes or loses money depends on how good the saw-filer does his job. Being a saw filer is the most important job in the mill. If you don't believe me, you should see how many fingers are pointing at the saw-filer if production drops off. But, of course, all fingers are pointing at themselves if things are going smooth.

I spent a lot of time with Oregon as a kid. I have to say that I've never enjoyed working with anybody as much as I enjoyed working with him. He always knew what I want wanted, before I knew myself. He'd be right there doing it for you, or showing you what was needed. We never needed to talk out loud to be able to communicate, which is a great quality in the places that we worked. "The woods" is not a quiet place.

One time behind Eureka, he and I were building a logging road. There was a big old-growth redwood stump on a point that the road had to go around. I was on the top end of the stump with a Cat, cutting the roots and soil down around it and pushing it off below. As I cut the dirt down I was pushing it around the stump down to Oregon. He was on another Cat, pushing the dirt down over the hill below, to become the foot of the road. Once I got all of the roots cut. I was going to come down off the hill. I looked below me to see that he had cut the dirt out from under me, and I was on top of about a six-foot drop off. I looked over at him to try to figure out what the heck he was doing. He had a great big grin on his face. I had to build a new road off my stump.
He thinks that's called a sense of humor!

I often see that bumper sticker that says; "If you can read this, thank a teacher". Fair enough, but there should be another bumper sticker that says: "If you live in a house, thank a logger:.

Don't you people fool yourselves, I've been following every word here.

Now, I've got a quiz for you. I have included a few photos of a redwood tree that was recently trimmed downtown. The question is; did they kill this tree by cutting off all the limbs???

I knew the lady that planted that tree, she was Mrs. Tucker, Ted Tuckers Mom, Bruce Tuckers grandmother. The tree was planted in the side yard of her house that stood where the back part of the Gitty-up Coffee Stand is. I wonder what she would say if she knew what happened to her beautiful tree.



The tree has some history in Garberville. Several times in years past it has been gloriously decorated as the town Christmas Tree. The top blew out of it a few years ago, fortunately, nobody was killed. After that, a couple of years ago a whirlwind went through town about 6:00 am. A limb from that tree broke the TV antenna on top of our store, over two-hundred yards away. Again, nobody was killed. The owner of the tree wisely decided to trim it.

Recently a rash of business owners have decided to remove the redwoods downtown. The trees were causing damage to the buildings and were endangering anyone near them in the wind. As you know, city folks expect to be taken care of. So if a limb kills them, they always try to blame somebody else. But, the same people are out there hugging these trees, trying to save them. Bear in mind, all of these trees were planted in my lifetime. Sadly, there was such a fuss about what could, or could not, be done to these trees that the property owners took them clear out. They didn't simply trim them, like they might have done if there hadn't been the pressure to “save them.” Sad how things work out isn't it?

32 comments:

\ said...

-did they kill this tree by cutting off all the limbs???

a better question is --can you hug a tree without limbs?

huggles,
s

Anonymous said...

Suzy always amazes me.

Oregon

Capdiamont said...

I'm thinking, if you don't have limbs, you can't hug anything.

Man on the street said...

No they didn't kill the tree, the tree trimmer said it would look like a chia pet soon enough.

(fourth hand report of news interview)

\ said...

I'm thinking, if you don't have limbs, you can't hug anything.

-intead of thinking, try using your imaginachin.

Ross Sherburn said...

Ernie,when was the Tree planted and where abouts in town is it located???

THANKS!!!!

ROSS

Fred Mangels said...

No they didn't kill the tree, the tree trimmer said it would look like a chia pet soon enough.

That's true. You can cut all the limbs off of redwood trees and they grow back. I think people limb them so they have less wind resistance and thus are less likely to have the wind blow the tree down.

There's 2 or 3 redwood trees at Harris and V Streets in Eureka that have all been limbed. They've been doing that for years now. Makes me wonder why they don't just have them cut down?

Anonymous said...

I'm with Fred on this one. If the tree is naked ugly like a mole rat and shivering in the breeze, if the tree has little way to provide oxygen for the planet, why are we keeping it alive and suffering? That does not look like a happy tree.

Now, if it gets to grow some limbs back (a bit more than a chia pet) then I suspect it will be beautiful again.

Robin Shelley said...

Or, Suzy: if you hug a tree without limbs, can it hug you back?

\ said...

Kym, no no no, how can u say such a thing? Suzy thinks it's totally
bueatiful!

Robin, it can touch you --and that can be better than a hug.

Ernie Branscomb said...

The answer is; Yes the tree will grow its limbs back. It will take on a different character, but it will be beautiful.

The fact of the matter is, redwood trees are intended to be wild and free, they don't make good town shrubs. When they grow up they become dangerous. The same as keeping a pet Mountain Lion in your living room. Many other trees have been domesticated for town use. People should consider planting them instead.

A woman that I know, who was born and raised here, came to me to see if I would help her stop the cutting of the town trees. She came to me because she knows of my love for redwood trees. I had to tell her that I agreed with the property owners, that the trees were dangerous, and should never have been planted in town in the first place.

A redwood tree in it's natural habitat grows much slower than a town tree. Town trees get light and nutrients from all sides. They grow like weeds, then they become extremely dangerous to life and property. It is sad to see a tree have to be destroyed because it was foolishly planted in the wrong place. In nature, a redwood tree competes with it's fellow redwoods for nutrients and light. The tallest ones win. Many trees choke out and die. Fires clean up the dead and the weak. It's been a long time since a forest has been allowed to grow naturally. In history, lightning and the Native Indians burned extensively. I can see many dead and sick trees standing that wouldn't have been allowed by nature to stay.

We are loving the redwoods to death. They clearly need to be wild, that includes fire, Mother Natures gardener.

But, I'll have to admit, that deep down inside, I'm glad that they decided to leave the tree standing. In five years most people will never know that it was pruned.

Ernie Branscomb said...

Jeese Kym, even a mole rat needs love! ;>

Anonymous said...

I was thinking the same thing Ernie about that poor mole rat, they need hugs two.

Oregon

\ said...

-and don't forget the bueatiful naked quivering ugly mole people...

\ said...

Ernie, the only thing, besides the danger, that i'm concerned abuot is --the malthemeatical/theophysical implications, couldn't you savy logger guys get it to be shaped like a big two instead?
that would be some really really cewl awrithamatic..

\ said...

they need hugs two. Oregon

yes, indeed, even one hug might help some..

Redwood Whisperer said...

I just had a talk with the tree's limbic system and it will definitely need some hugs and therapy.
The tree said people are calling it ugly and that really hurts, it said that it is like shaving a cat, sure the fur grows back, but the indignity has been done!
So it wanted people to know to please sent good vibes, if not huggles, it can't help it if it is ugly, and it didn't mean to drop limbs and debris on people.
It also said it would appreciate it if the community knitters would make it a sweater to get through the last of the cold days of late winter.

DaveKirby said...

The tree is artificially large. Its roots found the sewer line behind Madrone Realty many years ago. It's been "drip feeding" ever since. Having seen the size of some of the limbs that have blown off that tree it was only a matter of time before someone was seriously hurt.

Ernie Branscomb said...

Suzy said: “couldn't you savy logger guys get it to be shaped like a big two instead?
that would be some really really cewl awrithamatic…”

As everybody knows, Einstein was one of my favorite people, so faced with the challenge of how two make the tree two, I channeled Einstein for help.

He helped me two understand that in order two have a “two tree” it would need a fork in it, like the peace sign. Us loggers gnu exactly what he was telling us. We have long called a redwood tree with a fork in it a “Schoolmarm tree”. Us loggers think that’s real funny, because we are the only ones that understand why they are called schoolmarms, I can’t explain it on this blog, because often there are little children reading here. That, and I suspect that some of us act like little children. So, we keep our language clean. Which kinda’ fits within the scope of my principles, but does not agree with my visceral self.

But, eye bi-gress. Me two. Einstien said; two have a two-tree you had to start at the root. He said that the root of two was an imperfect number. And that it could never bee truuly calculated. Therefore, as good as the loggers are. They will never bee able to make the tree a two-tree because of the imperfect roots.

As a side note: the square root of 2 has been calclated, by computers, to well over a million digets, and counting......

Chi Chi Apet said...

Ernie that was articulately typoetic!

I wonder if we aren't observing the growth and spread of a regional language, sort of like Boontling, but this would have to be called...
Blahgling.

Cewl.

ol'man river river said...

and don't forget the bueatiful naked quivering ugly mole people...

That is so characterischtickly suz to extend huggles from her large two lobed heart to the downtrodden. The poor mole people were always getting whipped by the underground albinos. I suspect that suz was subtly leading us to this esoteric storyline of underground worlds and newcomers and pasty old guys. Thanks suzy two blahs.

Foolish Crick (aka om2r) said...

Please somebody say something so I don't have guilt for killing another thread...I know Mole People are passe...I can't help myself from saying goofy stuff...it must be my meds talking.

\ said...

sorry omr, Suzy's been busy, i'm watching some really really cewl episodes of Kym Possible, my fave redheadeded heroine, who with the help of her expertise in martial arts and her animal ally Rufus the naked mole rat is busy too --saving the world and stuff like that.

Idaho said...

Ha! Can we name the tree "Rufus"?

\ said...

-- that;s a wonderful idea, he is now Rufus, and we, by our naming ritual have, like Julia did Luna, made it that much easier for folks to relate
to him. This could serve as a possible future economic boon. I'm thinkin' we can take this all the way, like Julia did. Don't be surprised if you see me on national tv talking about it... i'm making some phone calls and sending out emails. We need to organize! The knitters need pink wool and for his summer garb (no pun intended) i am suggesting pink silk. --anybody?
Down with the ugly haters, save Rufus.

huggles not smuggles,
s

Robin Shelley said...

How long before Ernie posts a picture of that naked tree with a pink ribbon tied around its bare base?!!

Man on the street said...

As you recall, your Man on the Street brought you this heads up days before the newspapers today, and their attempts to calm the heartwrending apoca-ecoleptic fervor of the citizenry.

In an exclusive interview given to this reporter, Rufus shared that at first he felt like a little boy growing up in the '50's after his first visit to the barber. Gradually he has come to accept his condition as temporary and reflect that bald is actually in these days.
He also said all hugs are welcome.

The rains have dwindled the gawking crowds, town is bequieted.
Let us hope that the worst of this is behind us and that through the efforts of Suzy Imblahsible, the story of Rufus will circle the globe.

Suzy, any truth to the rumor that you will be doing a Lipshtick commercial with Rufus?

\ said...

any truth to the rumor

-Julia B got the gig.

Bunny said...

I think we should put some really really huge pot leaves on the top. Let's tell it like it is.

Robin Shelley said...

Didn't I see a sign in G-ville saying something to the effect: "Let's keep pot illegal..." That's telling it like it is!

Aunt Janet said...

I'm late coming in on this post, but Suzy, I am in on the knitting for the tree! Let me know the organizational details.

Idaho said...

Suzy might be looking for some pink sheep, but I can't say for shear.