OM :: The Ripple Effect

While working at home for the past few months, there is the almost constant sound of chainsaws, mixed in with other various tree maintenance equipment. The moaning and churning and grinding seems never-ending in the daylight hours.

All this activity stems from the freak winter storm last October.

We lost some of our trees. One is pictured above. This was The Kong Tree. Our dog’s favorite toy is the Kong brand that has a bouncy toy on the end of a one foot long rope. We throw the Kong around the yard for her to get exercise. She chases it and plays keep away, getting a good workout in return. These toys used to get stuck in that tree all the time and the branches were so high, no one without a very tall ladder could retrieve them. We used to curse that tree.

Evidence of the storm is visible everywhere. Hiking trails have been moved, there are still limbs hanging from trees all over the area and the collection site of the limbs from neighborhoods is an incredible site. There are piles and piles, 20 feet high of chipped wood that are steaming into compost, no matter the temperature. More tree parts arrive every day.

Today, as the professional-sized chipper ran for four hours straight next door, I marveled at the ripple effect this storm has had. It’s still represented in our daily lives and the irony is that we haven’t had any falling snow since then. I realize that all of this are small inconveniences that are bearable. Our losses personally and in our community can be withstood fairly easily.

But I miss The Kong Tree.

:::

OM is *one moment* and is a meetup designed to notice & relish a moment in everyday life. The meetup idea was created by Linda at her blog, a la mode stuff.

If you’d like to participate in OM, just click the button and you’ll be taken to Linda’s post explaining it all.