Watching Air

In a small area about halfway between my garage and the fence there once stood a large, regal pecan tree. A couple years ago it finally died, the bark had fallen off and in a blustery storm the rotting roots finally gave way this year. But this once lovely tree did not have the grace to fall to the ground. It's topmost branches, you know, the smallest ones?, are now cradled in the small branches of a couple of saplings. Down toward the base is a fairsized stub of branch that points directly earthward. And that's what I check every day. How much air is there between the tip of that stubby branch and the ground. Something has to give. That tree has to be heavy and those saplings can't hold it up forever. I'm thinking about starting a lottery on the actual day and time of the final fall.

And then there's a nearby tree that the grandkids have christened 'Buttina'. But that's another story.