Pacific Northwest Gardening: garden pics: you MAY see this in MAY....#4, 1 by Rarejem

Rarejem wrote:
Kathy, Amazing what force they have, isn't it? My first one that went down I was actually excited about, as it didn't do too much damage, and it was kind of cool that it raised up the rose and other plants that were planted at it's base with it (kind of like your fence, but a little less dramatic). I had never had a rose that was planted over my head before, so thought it was kind of neat (it was nice enough to take the soaker hose up with it, so the rose is still watered).

The second one chopped in half the bridge that my dad and I had built together...our very last major project together. It was the main feature at the big pond that you can see from the road between my folks house and mine. We had planned on rebuilding it together last spring when it dried up enough to get the trackhoe in that area to re-set new logs. He passed away unexpectedly shortly after that. Needless to say, every time I walked past that crushed bridge it tore my heart out and I cursed that tree for all I was worth. It is a sad story, but has the happiest ending possible. My DH, who had never really worked in the yard in his life other than clearing our property for our home and shop, was aware of how much it affected me every time I saw it. He took it upon himself, along with a good friend of ours and a good friend of my folks, to surprise me one day and clear the tree and re-build the bridge while I was at work. They weren't able to finish it all in one day (was easily a week's project), but they had the main portion done by that evening. I stopped at my house briefly to say hello to him, and then was planning to walk up to Mom's. He and our friend were sitting in the shop, looking like nothing was out of the ordinary. They let me walk up on my own, and I only made it to the top of my driveway before I saw the partially reconstructed bridge and started crying my eyes out. I don't think that there has been anything in the 20+ years I have known him that has cemented in my mind how much my DH loves me. After a year, I have made peace with the tree/stump, and am willing to make it a part of my yard.

This is the new bridge.