East Pole Journal February 8, 2020: If a tree falls in the woods …

Take a look at these two pictures. They show essentially the same scene, Denali from the cabin window. Do you notice something in the photo on the left is missing from the one on the right? If you guessed the oddly shaped tree, give yourself a nickel. The treetop which I call the seahorse tree because it looks like one of those little critters is missing.

Where oh where did that big seahorse tree go? I have thought at times I would try to find it and then ask the owners if I could cut it down for them so I could have a clear view of the mountain. It's in just about every photo I've made of the mountain over the years and had reached the nuisance point. I bet the owners would have jumped at the chance for someone to take that tree out if they could have seen into the future.

You see, I found it. Generally over the winter I check on a cabin across the main trail from mine, just to make sure it's all right, no broken windows, animal invasions, no strange changes. This year there was one. That tree. There it was leaning against my friends' cabin, about a third of it on the roof. It must have been blown down in one of the few wind storms we have here, perhaps weakened by an infestation of spruce beetles.

Seahorse tree is no more than firewood now, as soon as somebody moves it.

The owner I am closest with lives Outside now and I try to send her a picture of it every winter. It looks like someone else was in there and attempted to remove the tree. There's some kind of a safety line strung from it to another tree nearby and some of the branches up on the roof have been removed. It's a sensitive task for sure.

So, the end result? I can now have a treeless photo of the mountain, but, since I realized it, Denali has been hidden by clouds that have been dumping a lot of snow over the entire countryside between here and there. And, NO, Sue, I did NOT cut it down. LOL

And, speaking of snow

I think it's enough already when you clear your deck and you have to throw the snow uphill.

Sue responds: Sue Whittom Tim Jones: you are so funny but I think if you had figured out years ago that I owned the “seahorse” 🌲, it would have become firewood in your stove long ago😋 teehee



The East Pole Journal