“When a Tree Falls”

This afternoon I heard a very loud "crack!" followed by a staccato burst of smaller cracks. It sounded like fireworks, but it was coming from somewhere in the back yard!

I ran out in my bare feet to find the source of the noise. There was another great crack, followed by some rustling in the treetops, and I realized it was a tree falling in the forest behind the house. (The punny, corny jokes are zipping through my mind, but I will resist!)

From the sound, it was a very large tree, but I couldn't see it due to the density of the leaves between me and it. I returned to the house for shoes, and then went into the woods to find where it had fallen.

It was a large oak tree, perhaps 30 or 32 inches in diameter. At first glance it looked like a perfectly healthy tree had cracked at approximately my eye level, but a closer inspection revealed that the trunk had some serious issues: a large section had been scooped out by termites (I'm guessing, maybe it was some other wood-eating insect), and then something larger had made a nest in the hole. This weakened the tree, but didn't cause it to fall. What actually brought it down -- and this was no surprise at all -- was the large group of wild grape vines that grow mercilessly around here.

(The wild grape in this area seems to be working in concert with the Bittersweet vine. I hate them both, and that's no exaggeration. I'd have killed those that were pulling on this tree, if I had known about them, but they were too far into the woods for me to have noticed. It's enough just trying to keep up with those creeping in from the edges of the yard.)

Also of note was the smell. I love the smell of freshly cut wood, but I first noticed the rot by smelling it, unfortunately. The realization went something like, "Sniff... mmm, that smells good... oh yuck, it smells rotten."

Anyway, being there for the death of a large tree is such a rare occurence, I had to describe it. I'd like to believe that this leaves room for other, smaller trees to grow up in its place, but nothing will grow very tall unless the vines are dealt with first. They're evil.