A Locust Tree’s Destiny

Every few years the local electric utility Ameren comes through my neighborhood and trims trees away from the power lines. In 2010 the tree trimmers severely trimmed back my neighbor’s grande dame locust tree for fear the old tree would drop large branches on the power lines or on the neighbor’s house. I sat on my lawn and watched the men work, then I took these photographs of them. They were healthy, handsome men, and posed for my admiring camera. I love to watch men work with their strong arms, sure feet, competent hands, clear eyes, and ready laughs. I am happy to place photographs of some typical early twenty-first century men into history on my old lady’s blog.

After it was trimmed so hard the old locust tree stopped sending up shoots into my yard. It had hoped to fulfill a grande destiny by establishing a grove of dozens of locust trees around it, but I was compelled to lope off the shoots in order to keep my lawn. As the little shoots were tough and supported by the roots of their progenitor this was troublesome work but it had to be done. Only one little locust offspring survived. It had thrust up near the fence between my neighbor and I, and although I cut it off whenever I noticed it, it kept growing back with an ever thicker and more determined trunk, until finally I had pity on it and stopped cutting it down. This year the tree trimmers topped this two-story sapling locust for me. It is over a foot in diameter at the base. It will be a short, ugly tree, but it is vigorous and it will live to provide lovely dappled shade over my lawn long after the grande dame locust tree has passed.

Caption: Trimming A Grande Dame Locust Tree 2010 (A-E)