The Trees...

There is unrest in the forest; there is trouble with the trees.
For the Maples want more sunlight and the Oaks ignore their pleas
-Rush, from "Hemispheres"


Trees, trees, trees...
Above you see the close call we had in a November storm, where the top of a hundred year-old Maple tree blew out and barely missed this corner of our house. There is probably 10,000 pounds of tree laying there. I had a friend who makes musical instruments survey the wood and he says it's the right kind of Maple for high quality instrument wood. The rest of the tree was going to be a problem; forty feet of trunk still leaning towards the building site. So we recruited a friend that is a tree climber to help us bring it down:

The trouble with the Maples (and they're quite convinced they're right);
They say the Oaks are just too lofty and they grab up all the light.
But the Oaks can't help their feelings if they like the way they're made.
And they wonder why the Maples can't be happy in their shade.

There is trouble in the forest, and the creatures all have fled,
as the Maples scream "Oppression!" and the Oaks just shake their heads.

So the Maples formed a union and demanded equal rights.
"The Oaks are just too greedy, we will make them give us light!"
Now there's no more Oak oppression, for they passed a noble law.
-And the trees are all kept equal by hatchet, axe, and saw.

So we had rigged up a line and pulley and tied off to my tractor. This is right before he made the final cut and I was going to pull it over.
Best laid plans and all that; the tree was supposed to land about twenty feet away from me.
Instead, it missed the tractor by about three feet, a very close call...