Down for the Count

It appears to me that the water level in our pond is much higher than in years past.  We've only lived here about 6 months, but I am basing my thoughts on the number of trees which normally would not sprout in standing water that are completely surrounded by water now.  Spring storms have caused a number of them to fall which had no sign of disease, but whose roots are simply in water-logged soil which failed to anchor them in high winds.

Yesterday while out walking I found an American Sweetgum tree (Liquidambar styraciflua) that is around 6 inches in diameter lying across my path.  Its base was several feet out into the pond, and it had fallen across some other, smaller trees, which propped it up.  The long trunk is very straight due to growing within a shaded area of large trees.

Normally I would write something about how the other trees are propping it up to keep it from falling to the ground.  We all need people around us who will help us when we fall, however, in this case the tree is down for the count.  I will get out in the next few days and harvest what I can with the chainsaw and consign the unusable to the burn pile.

I wish I had a good way to make something of the long straight trunk.  The American Sweetgum is prized for furniture making.  It would be nice to be able to build something useful with it.  We shall see, but no promises.  It really isn't quite large enough to make good-sized boards to build with.  They would be narrow slats.

We have a lot of Sweetgum and Red Oak trees on our place.  This fall they should be gorgeous.