an ent goes down

last week this stoic timber succumbed to Dutch Elm disease. "Herbie" stood in Yarmouth Maine for over 200 years. He was a 110 feet tall Elm, the largest in New England.



and oy, this adorable 100 year old man has been it's care taker for about 50 years. It's a little heart wrentching ... "Of course I'm sad, but everything's got to go," said Knight. "It's pret-near my time, too. I'm just glad we had Herbie all these years." Luckily, albeit sadly, Herbie was cut down and his wood will be auctioned off to local craftsman.



I think everyone has a thing for big trees, right? there is something so intense about them. Luckily the biggest Yellow Oak in Berks County is alive and well and not too far from us. (it even has it's own Facebook page!) Being the gracious host of field trips galore and the occasional wedding or two ;)



So you've heard of ents right? come on, it's a sci fi thing! well, a Tolkien thing. The ents were these humanoid tree things created by Eru Ilúvatar at the behest of Yavanna: when she learned of Aulë's children, the Dwarves, she foresaw that they would fell trees, and desired creatures to serve as Shepherds of the Trees to protect the forests from Dwarves and other perils. ok, I totally took that from wikipedia, I'm not that much of a geek! dwarves are sneeky little jerks though ...



they had cool names like Fangorn, Beechbone, and Bregalad.



(I'm totally naming my first kid Bregalad)



anyway, I don't know where I'm going with this. You gotta a tree? take care of it. hang pretty bird feeders on it's limbs. trim it's dead branches. just don't carve your initials in it, ok?