Eduardo the Tree Expert

Well, the white oak saga is now over, it produced no new leaves this spring and it was obviously totally dead. I had cards from 25-30 tree service companies who all assured me that they would do the best job at the cheapest price. I had written notes on their cards so I reviewed them and narrowed my search down to 5-6. I called them and asked them to return and give me their estimate for taking down two trees, for I already had a fifty foot dead tree in the back yard. I explained that they were in a competitive bid situation and told them to keep that in mind when they bid on the job.

Dead 75' white oak tree

 All but one made their appointments and gave me very competitive bids. The one who didn't show called and said he would be here later in the day. I told him to call when he was ready to bid. He didn't show and didn't call to explain. The next day he called and made a new appointment. Again he didn't show. His third call set up his third commitment for the following day. He didn't come when he said , but he called when at my house. I told him which trees and he immediately came back with an offer that was $300 higher than the others. I told him that I had better offers so he immediately lowered his price by $200. I told him he was in the ballpark but still higher than all the others. He left and I went back to work, and after 20 minutes he called and said he was back at my house and he would do the job for a $100 less than his last bid if I would let him start right then. If you haven't figured it out by now, I was totally unimpressed with his lack of timely responsiveness, integrity and pressure techniques. I paused for effect and then said, "I have no reason to trust that you will do what you say when you say and at the price you have quoted. No thank you, I have already decided to hire someone else." He replied, "You better make sure they have insurance and they show you their current policies." I thought to myself, 'I have already done that and who do think you are giving me advice when you have been totally unreliable'. "No", I said, "thank you" and I hung up.

I had two services that were equal in almost all aspects (one was $20 higher than the other). Both came with good recommendations and I liked the persons who would be doing the work. One had judiciously called back for several months and had repeatedly asked for the job. He is the one I selected. I liked his tenacity and I was impressed that he knew what he was doing. He had formerly  worked as a tree trimming contractor for Duke Power before starting his own company. I was rewarded with an excellent job, done exactly when promised and exactly as he said. I would recommend Eduardo to anyone. He had one helper and together they dismantled the 75 foot giant one chunk at a time.

Eduardo was a skilled climber and rope specialist. He carefully took off the limbs and then attacked the main trunk. I watched in awe as he skillfully roped himself off, roped the next piece to be removed, positioned his helper to pull the rope in the right direction and then precisely dissected the tree. He was expert, and soon felled the final 20' section to the ground. He used three different chain saws, switching when one ran out of gas. As he sawed the final trunk piece into 18" sections the cause of the tree's demise became apparent. There were two large (4") black spots that penetrated through each piece of the main trunk. Obviously lightening had struck the tree in late summer of the preceding year.



Over 60' up

Roped off, but fearless

Big chunk

Bigger chunk

Biggest chunk

T

I

M

B

E

R!

After cleaning up the waste material and raking the yard, he turned his attention to the back yard. This tree was a 50' hardwood but it had been dead for a couple of years. Eduardo didn't trust this tree to climb so he climbed a smaller 40' hickory tree that was 6' away from the dead tree. He attached his ropes to the top branches of the hickory and latched it to his harness, and then swung from one tree to the next as if in a Tarzan movie. He never put his weight on the dead tree, he was always suspended from the green hickory branches as he cut the top and then all the limbs off the dead tree. He lowered himself hanging from the hickory until he was back on the ground. He felled the final 15' of trunk and then he was done.

Climbing the hickory

Hanging from the hickory and cutting down the dead tree

Swinging from the harness



The last cut

 Eduardo is my tree man, he even cut down the two cedars that had obscured my mailbox for years. We are sad to lose our big white oak, but thankful that it isn't going to fall on our car or house. Thank you Eduardo for a job well done at a fair price and in a timely manner. His business card says "Tree Expert" and I would heartily agree.



Squirrel Wars (Diablo Ardillas) Episode One

There is nothing cuter than  frisky little squirrels running and jumping and chasing each other. In early spring they are seriously chasing each other in the mating game, but year round they are playful little buggers that are fun to watch. They take long running jumps and then catapult through the air, seeming to glide magically like a trapeze performer on the high bars in the big top. They are comical as a pack of clowns at a circus and simultaneously they are graceful as a gazelle as they display their amazing dexterity. They have remarkable agility and they are cunningly ingenious. Without a doubt one of the shrewdest critters that exist on this planet. Couple that with incredibly sharp teeth and claws, a relentless  attitude, and a totally intrepid spirit and you have the makings of a diabolical genius.
   As my friend Delmar in Texas says, "A good squirrel is the one that is cooking on the stove".(Not really, but I can imagine him saying that).  He is from Arkansas and like my east Texas family, they believe that squirrels are good for eating. I have eaten squirrel that my Dad fried in a skillet, but I never really hunted them with any success on my own. And I would quickly add that I never really liked the taste of squirrel. (I would probably have starved to death on the frontier because I don't like venison either). However I do like catfish and crappie so maybe I would have survived. Back to the squirrels. As cute as they are, they have another side that is quite irritating and vexing to folks like us.



 We have a pond and wooded area directly behind us so we enjoy feeding wildlife in our backyard. We especially like the birds that fill our lives with their beauty and their enchanting calls. From the squeaky little finches to the chit-chit of the cardinals, to the fierce warbling of the Carolina wren, we sit on our deck and enjoy all the sounds that nature provides. In spring and summer and early fall, we park in the deck chairs and soak it all in as the evening approaches. It is most relaxing to turn off the world and tune in to God's little side show that takes you away from all the problems of this crazy place we live.
   We have put up bird feeders for most songbirds, filled with sunflower, milo, safflower, and peanuts, at two different stations in the yard. In another spot we have meal worm feeders for those birds who don't like the birdseed, like bluebirds.  One of the feeders is filled with thistle (Nyger) seed that appeals primarily to the goldfinches and we have suet blocks on one of the shepherd hooks.. We have a couple of birdbaths on the deck rail and another centrally located in the yard because we discovered that many birds like to bath daily and they all take a sip each day.. Our yard slopes from front to back and creates a deck area that is eleven feet off the ground on the backside. This creates a perfect platform for hanging birdfeeders off the toprail so that we can observe them while they are eating. And this is where the problems with the squirrels has manifested itself. For squirrels not only like nuts, they also love sunflower seed.
   In the yard we have installed metal baffles on the support poles that deflect the squirrels efforts to get at the feeders. One of them was four feet off the ground originally. I had to raise it to five feet because I witnessed a squirrel leaping five feet from a standing stop and landing on the metal pole above the baffle. He totally cleared the obstacle and scampered onto the closest feeder. Of course I immediately ran him off and he indignantly escaped across the yard and through the fence. He was back an hour later contemplating how high he would have to jump this time. He never did so I adjusted the baffle on the other ground feeder to a similar height. We don't know when they will try again, but we know they will. They are relentless.
   At one time, during the past several years, we had two small feeders on plant hangers at the bay window in the den. Squirrels would leap from the maple limbs nearby until I sawed off the close hanging branches. Then they would crouch at the end of the deck toprail and leap laterally seven feet and then desperately cling to the hanger. I fixed this approach by installing a wide piece of flashing at the end of the toprail so they couldn't coil up for the jump. I saw them leap from a maple limb ten feet away and land on the copper covering of the bay window, but they would always slide off and into the lilac bush below. Though it was eventually squirrel-proof, we abandoned it because it requires climbing a thirteen foot ladder every time you refill it. At my age I try to stay off ladders and besides, Cheryl fusses at me when I do.
   We decided that we would buy a couple of four foot deck planter hooks and hang feeders off the back of the deck. We filled them with the popular songbird mix and were delighted that the birds flocked to it. They were hanging four feet out in the air and twelve feet above the ground. They obviously felt very safe and secure and we were treated to a grand display of ornithology from fifteen feet away. Then the squirrels discovered them and invaded their privacy. The squirrels would drop off a nearby tree and land on the top rail or climb up the deck from the ground. Without a shred of fear they would climb out on the hook and jump down onto the feeder. With a rodent hanging upside down on their food source, the birds stayed away. And by the way, when they eat they gorge on the seed and scoop away the smaller seeds they don't eat. Sometimes when we were away they would empty a feeder in a day. So we began to try and find a way to keep them off the feeders.

























I had an extra baffle so I attached it to one of the hooks about three feet away from the top rail. At first I witnessed  a 'diablo ardilla'  simply walk up the hook and pull himself onto the baffle and climb over. I watched another sit on the top rail for several seconds and then suddenly leap from the top rail completely over the baffle and land on the hook. I always watched them perform their feats before I would shoo them off. This obviously wasn't working so Cheryl bought a loose hanging baffle that acted like an umbrella over the top of the feeder. This was more effective until they discovered that they could push the baffle sideways enough to allow them to get a grip on the feeder underneath. Not all could do this but several could. In the past two weeks I have scared not less than nine arillas off the feeder who have lept to the ground 12 feet below. All have scampered away and escaped up the closest tree. I think they are practicing to be flying squirrels.

 

Nothing works but I keep trying as you will see in future episodes of 'The Squirrel Wars".

A Butterfly tale

   As human beings we are entrusted with the care of many critters on this earth. Even though God surely provides, we are sometimes given the opportunity to assist in aiding and protecting some of his creatures. Of course we care for our own offspring, many of us care for dogs and cats and other domesticated beast, and we are also trusted to help feed his feathered and furry animals during the bitter cold of the winter. And then occasionally we are given the opportunity to assist in the rehabilitation of one of his most beautiful creations, like the butterfly.
   A couple of mornings ago, Cheryl assisted our two old and failing yorkies out for their early morning ritual. She literally had to carry them both down the flight of stairs from the deck to the ground level. It was there that she discovered the butterfly. It was a golden tiger swallowtail and it was incapacitated (She thought he was dead). She immediately went into rescue mode. There was a light rain falling, so she scurried around and found a couple of old plant tags and used them to scoop him off the ground. She carried him to the deck table and placed him underneath the umbrella. She found a cut box from Costco and placed him under the umbrella and out of the rain. He wasn't moving, he just lay there with his wings flattened out against the bottom of the box.
   We had recently purchased some humming bird feeders and we had a bottle of the red nectar, so she reasoned that the butterfly might get some nourishment from it. He never moved in our presence, so she nudged him up next to the drops of nectar. She went to work and checked on the internet for what you should feed a butterfly. She didn't learn much, but one article stated that they would eat a sweet sticky fruit like a banana. When she got home, he still set in the same place next to the nectar. The next morning she placed a small piece of banana through a small hole in the side of the box, because he had moved and now clung to the side of the box. We dared to hope. She managed to get the banana within reach of his proboscis and then we left for work. Neither of us returned until the early evening.

   When we checked the box that evening he had not moved but he had folded his wings up. Then, lo and behold, the next morning the young butterfly was gone, and all that was left was the piece of banana. Of course the banana looked undisturbed, but who knows, maybe a combination of the two revived and brought him back. One thing is for sure, if Cheryl had not rescued him from the wet ground, he would likely not have survived the day because it rained all day and into the night. We think that Cheryl did a good thing but the bluebirds would probably have preferred that we leave him on the ground so they could make a meal of him. We'll never know for sure, but you know, it feels good that she was able to bring him back for at least one more day. We're planting butterfly friendly bushes in the back yard to attract as  many of his kinfolks as possible. I have to believe that God is pleased when one of his creations looks after another. I think Cheryl said it best, "It feels so good to know that God has used you to help one of His beautiful helpless creatures."  Amen.




This is what he will grow to be at full maturity.

Original Bluebird Story

   Cheryl and I tried to attract bluebirds when we lived in the city. We had several pairs of cardinals that visited our feeders, we had house finches by the score, we even had goldfinches, nuthatches, chickadees, titmouses, sparrows and Carolina wrens frequently. But the elusive bluebirds, were never seen anywhere near our backyard. Blue birds are small and they are strikingly beautiful. The males are a brilliant blue with reddish brown breast and white bellies, and the females are a softer blue with softer red breast and white bellies. They are a special treat to see.

   I read a couple of birding books and discovered that they are actually very shy. They really don’t like to be around humans and even in the animal world, they prefer to have private nesting away from other birds.

They are more frequently seen in the outer suburbs, or out in the country where they can have more privacy and escape from contact with people. It seemed that we were destined to never see any blue birds.

   About four years ago, we moved out into the county to a home on over an acre of land and predominantly clear of trees. On one side we have a nice row of 25-year-old willow oaks and in the back we have a substantial green break of leyland cypress, long needle pines and four well-spaced willow oaks. Altogether, it is a formidable sound and site barrier that protects the back of the house. The front and other side have no trees except what our next door neighbor and we have recently planted.

   Since we love and care for wildlife, we quickly put up feeders of sunflower with mixed seeds and thistle to attract various species of birds. The primary feeder was soon overwhelmed by large black birds who lined the trees behind the house and then continuously attacked the feeder, running off smaller birds who dared to try for the seeds. The feeder was quickly emptied as the black birds scattered all the smaller seed they didn’t want and devoured the sunflower seed like ravenous sharks tearing up a helpless victim. We decided we didn’t love all wild birds.

   At Christmas, I saw a bird feeder at a garden shop that looked like a solution for our problem. Around the circumference of the feeder, wire with small holes had been installed that would only allow small birds to reach the seed inside the feeder. My feeder was a very nice feeder, so I decided to adapt my existing feeder to ward off the evil back birds and allow only the smaller birds to feed from it.

   A quick trip to Home Depot and I had all the materials I needed for my project. When springtime arrived, I managed to create a reasonable facsimile of the feeder I had seen. The wire had small openings that would allow only the smaller birds to perch and stick their heads in for feeding. It worked, and after a short time the frustrated black birds quit coming to the feeder and smaller birds began flocking in.

   We had all the same birds we saw in the city and then one day Cheryl said, “ I saw a bluebird on the feeder”. Now bluebirds prefer insects of all kinds so I’m not sure they were eating from the feeder, but they were at the feeder. We were excited and kept our cameras close at hand to capture the next magical moment when we would be blessed with a blue bird sighting. And surely enough, we saw and photographed blue birds around our very own feeder in our own back yard! We were excited and began to think about how to keep them nearby.

   After some more reading, I went to the feed and seed store, and bought a bluebird house. Everything I read said that you must put the house in a remote area, away from trees and out in the open if possible. I selected a spot on the open side of the yard, about midway, and stationed near the edge of the property. The birdhouse sits on a one-inch pipe and faces toward our home; as a matter of fact, it can be seen directly out the window over the kitchen sink. The neighbors have a flowerbed with low shrubs just behind the birdhouse.

 

   For the rest of the year, no bluebirds took up residence in the house I had placed. Over the winter, I purchased an additional bluebird house and erected it in a clearing of the trees in the back yard. Instead of the one-inch pipe, this one was mounted on a four-inch cedar post, so I thought that they might find it more substantial and worthy of building a nest there. It was placed where it can be seen outside of the breakfast room in our home.

   You can imagine our excitement the following spring when Cheryl announced that she had seen a bluebird on the old birdhouse on the side of the yard. Surely enough, both male and female appeared and we watched them bring in all their nesting materials. The female stayed for the summer and we are sure she hatched their new family. I was very careful not to disturb the house while mowing and we never tried to open it while they were nesting. I did get close enough to hear the little ones cheeping, but we never saw them. And then one day they were gone.

 

   Not forever, for we saw them occasionally atop the birdhouse or in the trees. They are always such a special treat to see; it is like God has trusted you to view one of his most elusive creatures, because He knows that you care for them, as he wants to care for us. It is a privilege. 

   For a long time we didn’t see them and we started to wonder if they would come back. You don’t think about them every day and eventually when you don’t see them, you forget about them.

   In late summer, we pulled into the driveway one afternoon and parked the car outside the garage on the parking pad. As we walked toward the garage door, I heard a strange scratching sound that I had not heard before. Cheryl had already walked into the garage, so I called to her to stop and listen to the noise I heard. She came back and we both decided that it was something we had never heard before. I followed the sound and it led me to the back side corner of our home. On this corner, there is a downspout from the gutters that connects to an under ground black plastic pipe to carry the run off away from the house. As I approached the downspout, it was apparent that the noise was coming from where the spout joined the underground pipe at ground level.

   “It’s a field mouse or a rat”, I said, “It sounds just like a mouse trapped in the pipe and he can’t get out”.

   “What are you going to do?”, she asked.

   “Leave it”, I responded, “I don’t want any critters under the house”.

   “You can’t do that” she said, “You’ve got to get it out, whatever it is”

   I knew her tone and I knew that I had no other alternative, even though I truly didn’t want to free a rat,  I went into the garage and got some tools to pry the pipe away from the down spout. After working a couple of minutes, I made an amazing discovery. It was not a rat, but a bird!

In fact, in another minute, I pried the pipe away from the spout and the most beautiful blue bird I have ever seen was looking straight at me. He looked at me as if to say, “it took you long enough to get here, now get me out of here!” Another minute and the opening was big enough for him to flap his wings and he sprung from his trap and flew straight to the birdhouse on the side of the yard. It was our blue bird!

   I was astonished and amazed that it was the blue bird in the pipe. What if we had not driven in when we did?  What if I had not heard the faint scratching sound? What if Cheryl had not insisted that I free “whatever it was” from that pipe? How had he fallen into the downspout? How long had he been there? None of those questions really matter. The important thing is that we did what we did! In doing so, we preserved something that was precious to us. We love bluebirds, and we feel so privileged that we were there to show them how much we care.

   I think we had a family in each birdhouse this year and I swear that one flew by me the other day and chortled a little song that sounded like,

   “Thank you friend”.

   “You’re Welcome”, I whistled back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Footnote 2009 : I found a dead baby bluebird lying in the grass this year after a strong thunderstorm. Fifty feet from the birdhouse, it must have fallen out or was blown out by the storm. I carefully wrapped it and buried it out in the trees at the back of the house. I said a few words of respect over it’s featherless body and then gingerly buried it with the greatest respect. I didn’t tell Cheryl; she holds them so tenderly, I did not want her to mourn.

 

"Lord thank you for these feathered friends so blue
Thank you for the favor giv'n, just to view
Thank you for their awesome beauty shared
And thanks for allowing us to have cared"

David and Cheryl

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Written by David Warbritton exclusively for the Warbritton family