Why we bring down trees

Four years ago, my neighbor, Perry Leonard, absolutely thrilled me with a memorable ride in his classic 1952 Willeys CJ-3A Jeep.

I had so much fun that I couldn't stand myself. We rode through the streets of Lexington, drawing glances, feeling the wind in our faces. I even wrote a blog about it (see here).

Farewell to a fun ride.

 Well, that will never happen again.

Two weeks ago on a Wednesday morning, his neighbor's 100-foot tree decided that it had had enough of standing tall and simply fell over. No wind. No storm. No earth tremors. No reason other than being perhaps 100 years old.

It fell on top of Perry's CJ-3A Jeep. It fell on top of Perry's 30-year-old Jeep Cherokee. It took out a portion of the Leonards' Air B&B located behind their house.

The damage was significant. It actually looked like a hurricane had come through. I can say that because I remember when Hugo came through in 1989 and created swaths of tree damage in town.

Interestingly enough, Perry didn't seem to mind losing the CJ-3A. It was his fun ride, and not really anything more than that. It was the loss of the Cherokee that really bothered him. He was the vehicle's only owner, buying it brand new 30 years ago.

So, for Perry, there was a lot of sentimental attachment to the Cherokee.

Farewell to another old friend.

 But for me, even though my ride lasted only 30 minutes or so, I had sentimental attachment to the CJ-3A. It made me feel military. I liked seeing Perry grind the gears while tooling down the street, wondering if he'd ever get it out of second and into third.

Perry is thoughtful about his personal disaster, however. Yeah, he lost two vehicles in a single moment, but the hidden miracle here is that nobody was booked for the popular Air B&B that night. That could have been horrendous. 

Or the tree could have randomly fallen a couple more feet to the right and taken out their house. If it had fallen more to the left, it could have taken out several offices. So there was incredible luck in play on their unlucky day.

And the entire incident is a reminder that we have to be watchful of Mother Nature. The tree that fell was being choked to death by the ivy that was climbing its trunk and strangling the life from it. Nobody wants to cut down historic 100-year-old trees, but the fact of the matter is that they're 100-year-old trees. Sometimes they'll give you a clue when it's time for the chain saw. And sometimes, you just have to make that decision on your own.