Speculative Vision

Does Lightbrigade live near the sea?

About six to seven hundred yards away. A wide beach which is visited by Athenians as therapeutic for rheumatism, a coastal motorway (highway), and approximately four hundred and fifty yards inland where the foot of a richly vegetated mountain - partly burnt some years ago, now flourishing again. The Fire Brigade was helped by the municipality civil forces (something like your National Guard), when I managed to get burnt then, being in charge of that municipality service. But we saved the forest and no private property was destroyed - I was used again this year when 110 fires broke out simultaneously natonwide, about two weeks ago. I managed to get choked and charred again alright. I gave my sophisticated breathing apparatus to the rescued civilians and to the foot soldiers who did the work, you see. The sea gives fresh fish and shellfish we either catch ourselves or buy cheaply. Some here take to sailing. I sail alone, far away. Sometimes, I go to the beach to write. At sunset.
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Hey, thank you, Aldan *broad smile*

Ariel wrote:Does Lightbrigade live near the sea?

So it would seem.

My day was a mess. A mess in that I did a little more yard work, and studied Ye Olde Rotting Oake Tree. During the storms of late last week, it dropped several largish limbs in the patio. Nothing damaged. It does appear to be leaning a bit, but it's leaning in the right direction; away from the house. if it falls in the direction it's leaning, it shouldn't damage anything. The tree appears half dead. Half the branches have very few leaves on them, so the tree id without a doubt dying. It's a shame in a way, since it shades over half the house during most of the day. I bet my electric bill goes up significantly after that tree is gone.

I also mowed a path to my "burn spot" and carted the fallen limbs to the site of a future bonfire. The wood is too soggy to burn right now. Due to the rain, the back yard is mostly marsh-land at the moment. The soil has a lot of clay, so it's going to take almost a week to dry out to cut.

My bum leg only gave out twice, so I didn't get too muddy.

Ah, well. This week I'm back to my normal work place, and my schedule is back to normal, and I'm taking next week off to just sit back and relax.

You can arrange where a tree will fall. If you saw the trunk a little to form a wedge of empty space, the weight of the trunk will by time make the tree bend that way.

Sit back and relax? Tell me the secret? It seems I never find time to do that with what work there is to do around. Lucky you! I _am_ sorry about the leg. Old wounds and fractures sometimes give me a bloody he-something of a time when doing hard work here, so I know what it feels like with the kind of work you talk about.

Since you mention there are leaves, you may save the roots of the tree and give them the chance to give a new tree. If you burn the ground around the roots chemically, with nitrates abundantly poured in after dissolved in water, and sulphur in powder which will permeate the soil to the roots with frequent watering, strengthen the soil with iron (water solution) and other minerals, all you have to do on the tree is saw off all branches _without_ leaves, and even cut a fair part of the trunk if there are no branches with leaves.

Sometimes old trees revive when we clean and clear the roots of long accumulated fauna. This requires we dig around the trunk to expose the roots to some degree for oxygen and sunlight to help them revitalise as they will be feeding on nutrient compliments we can add.

The secret is

if you know where the "eye" of the tree trunk is. The trunks of trees we have in our gardens, often, not always seem to come out of the ground in one body and separate a little higher. One of the two parts of the trunk above the fork is usually left as it is and the tree grows without any further development of that part, so it looks like an old cut-off branch in the years the tree was young. That is the "eye", or the graft, in fruit trees.

So if you cut the trunk _above_ the "eye", the tree will grow again. And give you shade very soon *s* On a fully grown tree, an old tree, the "eye" may be very high up though. Of course, I may be all wrong in these suggestions - I am saying this so that I am always ... politically correct *L*

PS
Something rather silly I have seen and come to believe about trees. If you talk to them tenderly, or touch them and caress them, they can heal instead of die. But that is just LB far out stuff *LOL*

LightBrigade wrote:You can arrange where a tree will fall. If you saw the trunk a little to form a wedge of empty space, the weight of the trunk will by time make the tree bend that way.

Yup. All i have to do if I get a chance to cut it down before it falls on it's own is find someone with a chain saw with a long enough blade. The trunk is about four feet in diameter.

Sit back and relax? Tell me the secret? It seems I never find time to do that with what work there is to do around. Lucky you!

Most likely, the first part of the week, beginning next Saturday, I'll probably finish mowing the back yard, and studying the tree situation some more.

You may save the roots of the tree and give them the chance to give a new tree. If you burn the ground around the roots chemically, with nitrates abundantly poured in after dissolved in water, and sulphur in powder which will permeate the soil to the roots with frequent watering, strengthen the soil with iron (water solution) and other minerals, all you have to do on the tree is saw off all branches _without_ leaves, and even cut a fair part of the trunk if there are no branches with leaves.

Unfortunately, most of the trunk is rotting. I'm also fairly sure it's hollow. The best thing to do is to put it out of it's misery.

The secret is

if you know where the "eye" of the tree trunk is. The trunks of trees we have in our gardens, often, not always seem to come out of the ground in one body and separate a little higher. One of the two parts of the trunk above the fork is usually left as it is and the tree grows without any further development of that part, so it looks like an old cut-off branch in the years the tree was young. That is the "eye", or the graft, in fruit trees.

So if you cut the trunk _above_ the "eye", the tree will grow again. And give you shade very soon *s* Of course, I may be wrong - I am saying this so that I am always ... politically correct *L*

If it was healthier, I might have given that a try, but as it is, it's too far gone. On the other hand, I have three saplings from a fast growing variety of Oak sitting on the kitchen table. I got them from under a tree at work that had a trunk only about six inches in diameter when I started work there in '98, and now the trunk is about 18 inches in diameter and it's about thirty feet tall.

aldan sits and thinks of what LB was talking about with his boat... and thinks of a Styx song he grew up with.

"I'm sailing away, set an open course for the virgin sea
I've got to be free, free to face the life that's ahead of me
On board, I'm the captain, so climb aboard
We'll search for tomorrow on every shore
And I'll try, oh Lord, I'll try to carry on

I look to the sea, reflections in the waves spark my memory
Some happy, some sad
I think of childhood friends and the dreams we had
We live happily forever, so the story goes
But somehow we missed out on that pot of gold
But we'll try best that we can to carry on

A gathering of angels appeared above my head
They sang to me this song of hope, and this is what they said
They said, Come sail away, come sail away
Come sail away with me
Come sail away, come sail away
Come sail away with me

I thought that they were angels, but to my surprise
They climbed aboard their starship and headed for the skies
Singing, Come sail away, come sail away
Come sail away with me
Come sail away, come sail away
Come sail away with me..."

I remember that song!

more music talk, well i am still listening to the music that I was talking about in "what are you listening to"
(nick cave rules!) because I just wrote that post.
though I would say hello to every one. Hello every one.
school is keeping me busy.

Yesterday the power went of at work twice as the stroms hit northland NZ... and the side of the building made strange noises as the wind hit....

Starting to get the stuff together to deal with Ye Olde Oake Tree. One of my co-workers brought in a "chain saw". Not the one with a motor, but what amounts to a chain saw chain with two lengths of rope fixed to the ends (and a metal "wing" that insures the biting teeth are aimed right) On the way home, I stopped by Lowe's (home improvement supplies) and picked up a hard hat. As I was milling around in the outdoors section waiting to check out in the House Plant department, I saw a house plant I just had to have.

A Venus Fly Trap.

I think I'll name it......

"Wally".

Wally! A Venus Fly Trap! *LOL*

For someone who today spoke about resigning :
Experience is what allows us to repeat our mistakes only with more finesse! - Derwood Fincher.
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aldan wrote:aldan sits and thinks of what LB was talking about with his boat... and thinks of a Styx song he grew up with.

Aldan, ... *smiling and nodding*... thank you.

Not only for one who sails, but also for anyone who has worked downbelow, in the fumes and gases of engine oil and petroleum, stepping over the bilge grid with all that flowery smell, in that hellish heat reflected by the metal all around, metal you never know when it is going to give in and let the monster gush in, no time to run up the narrow, slippery steps all those storeys if it does, where the odd sound in that steel cave you do not know if it means an explosion, a crack, the end, especially when you are a teenager who has a whole life in dreams still in his heart and mind, here is what we sing when on the deck, gazing at her blue vastness below the blue above... *sigh* the grand mistress.

Here is the hymn of all sailors as I heard it and sang it on an old tanker.

(Title : Sailing, Sung by Rod Stewart.)

I am sailing, I am sailing,
Home again cross the sea.
I am sailing, stormy waters,
To be near you, to be free.

I am flying, I am flying,
Like a bird cross the sky.
I am flying, passing high clouds,
To be with you, to be free.

Can you hear me, can you hear me
Thro the dark night, far away,
I am dying, forever trying,
To be with you, who can say.

Can you hear me, can you hear me,
Thro the dark night far away.
I am dying, forever trying,
To be with you, who can say.

We are sailing, we are sailing,
Home again cross the sea.
We are sailing stormy waters,
To be near you, to be free.

Oh lord, to be near you, to be free.
Oh lord, to be near you, to be free,
Oh lord.