Sunday, December 16, 2018

The Mighty Oak

the Mighty Oak
1 White Oak Tree-(quercus alba)Now mighty can mean big, tall, broad and strong. But, mighty can also mean tenacious. What you see here is a White Oak tree in all its mature splendor, a mighty Oak.

I contrast these two meanings of mighty because I’m excited to announce that the reports of the death of my baby oak tree, started from an acorn, have been premature. The tree was viciously attacked last spring by a savage chipmunk, squirrel, rabbit or some such other wild beast. All of the tender shoots and leaves were eaten in this attempted arborcide (I just made that word up). In the throes of grief I refused to remove it from the ground, hoping against hope that it would miraculously recover from this devastating blow.
This spring the little shaver was not showing any signs of life. I became resolved to finally remove it. A little warm weather lured me to the back yard again. I was resolved to remove the beautiful ornate fence I had place around my tree (which had very large openings that allowed the savage attack to begin with). But, my heart leapt (or leaped, maybe both) for joy when to my great and grateful surprise tender shoots were once again springing to life.
Here you can see this tenacious little life springing from the ground. The mighty Oakus lives on!


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