11 May 2018
Jeez I’ve ignored this blog recently! The last entry (26 November) was entered just after I got back from a two-week business trip to the Dominican Republic, and now almost six months have passed. Let’s see… Christmas, Winter, New Year’s, Grandson born, another tree fell in the back yard, another trip to Bulgaria, another visit from my Wyoming sister, a visit from my Colorado nephew and grand-nephew, a 65th birthday (and commensurate signing up for Medicare), not much, eh?
We planned on spending the week between Christmas and New Year’s in our usual way – up at the Ballot Box in Maine – but Lynn came down with rhinovirus Christmas evening so we delayed heading north until the 29th (Friday). We laid low for our few days in Maine, extending a day to the 3rd. Winter was delayed – as it often is – but made up for the late start by whacking us with three Nor’easter blizzards in the span of a week during March. Our first grandchild – Alexander Paul – was born 9 February… a little peanut but way cool! My sister flew in from Wyoming for a short visit to the place of her roots, longing for a taste of a damp and wet winter rather than the windy and bone-dry winters she’s become accustomed to where snow sublimates rather than melts and a gentle breeze is anything under 40 mph. My nephew brought his son east to his dad’s roots during his first spring break from college in Colorado to experience humidity and lobsters and fresh seafood. I turned 65 this January, with Lynn about to follow this month. I also made a third trip to Sofia Bulgaria in April, related to checkups on work that was scheduled based on our observations from our last trip in August and September.
We – or rather, our neighbors, who graciously chipped in to cover a portion of the eventual removal cost – lost another swamp-willow during the 3-blizzard week. It landed 99.44% in our yard (so my responsibility), same as what happened 2 years ago. THIS time, instead of threading it’s way down, missing our birch and the pergola, it landed right on top of the pergola (see panorama photo – look on the right side). I’m an old-school physicist who understands F=ma, so I built that pergola to withstand a Chinese space station landing on it, and the tree had ZERO effect on the pergola except to plunk right down on top of the massive Concord grapevine that shades all who stand underneath the 10′ x 20′ structure.
My original plan to enlist willing friends to help remove the offending ent got kiboshed when I got scheduled for another two-week trip to Bulgaria during that window of time when the snow would be gone but the grape arbor would not yet be sprouting leaves and creepers to entangle the downed tree, so I had to hire a tree removal company to do the work.
They showed up (while I was in Bulgaria) with a monster crane and lifted the whole tree off the pergola and up OVER all the other trees. My neighbor got a video of it…
Not many words for a six-month summary… perhaps I’ll elaborate on some more aspects in the near future. Check back…
The Vogt Family TreeHouse Blog 