My tree

In reviewing my previous posts, I realized I hadn't included the story about my tree.

I was with my grandparents when they bought their property south of town, back in the summer of 1973. They had owned some property in the area for years, and were looking for a newer and larger place in the same area.

They found a 10-acre lot of unimproved land with a gravel road running across it, right about in the middle. The road had been built to put in a microwave relay tower at the top of the hill, and consequently there was also electricity running up to the top of the hill. Anyway, they had looked at several properties that day, dragging me along (I was 6 at the time).

The place was pretty overgrown, what you'd expect from 'unimproved'. But there was an enourmous oak tree maybe 75 to 100 feet back from the road.

It was enormous then, probably 300 years old or older. Two adult men could not put their arms all the way around it. The first of the horizontal branches started about 10-12 feet up, and those were as big around as a regular tree. They were also pretty straight, making it perfect for the ultimate tree house. The branches extended out nearly all the way to the road, in a near perfect circle. Truely an impressive grand old oak.

(In fact, the only oak I've ever seen that surpasses this one is the ancient Old Senator oak, somewhere between 500 and 600 years old, in St. Augustine, FL. Theirs may be older and bigger, but mine is prettier; mine has the classic hemispherical shape, while theirs is more 'globular' and irregular. You do have to admire theirs, however, for being being a tough old tree, able to survive in a Howard Johnson's parking lot. Kinda reminds me of the Survivor Tree (which is an American Elm) here in OKC at the Murrah Building Memorial.)

I offered my grand-dad the princely sum of $26 (in that day, and for a 6-year-old) if he'd buy this particular lot and let me have that tree. He laughed, as did my grandmother and the real estate agent.

Later they decided to buy that property, and my grand-dad told me I could have that tree. We never did built the treehouse, but we did put in a succession of swings over the years. It's still there, even bigger and more massive than before. I had been concerned about it, given the massive ice storms that have struck that part of Oklahoma over the past few years, but that big old tree could support a huge load of ice, literally tons of the stuff, without strain. Anyway, it's still there, and appears to be in good condition.