Taking care of the oak wilt

Mar 31, 2024

It all began months ago when the Ps opened the cottage for its seasonal use. Mr. P noticed a few of the clusters of oaks were dropping their bark. They had to go. (They were dead — oak wilt.) The problem was that P could not take them down. They were too close to a couple of garages. He had to have professionals take them down and haul the debris away. Would there be any others? There were.

Mr. P pulled out of the driveway and headed north to their cottage alone. ( Mrs. P was busy with other things, so she couldn’t go with him — nothing new there.) His reason for going this time was that they had hired someone to cut down 14 trees. (The trees were dead or dying from Oak wilt — remember.) He was going north to show ‘the boys’ what to cut and what they could take for whatever they did with it, but they should cleanup afterward. He also wanted to tell them that he wanted to keep one of the trees for fireplace wood. (He figured he could split it later this year or maybe finish the splitting next year.)

But they didn’t come. (He didn’t blame them. He had called and changed the date. Things had gotten a little hectic lately, and getting worse.) So, when they did not arrive, he cut the grass, marked the trees he wanted cut, put some old, split and dried oak in the back of the truck, and went home. (On the way home he saw no white pelicans either flying or anywhere else.)

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On the way up north, the white pelicans were there and the bridge was wide open again. (A crew had been painting the bridge and were covering portions of the bridge with metal and closed some of the lanes so the cars would not get dripped on when they passed by, down below.) Putzer saw lots of those white pelicans, 100 or more. Big, white birds with large, yellow bills made for scooping up fish and swallowing them whole, and black tipped wings. And he thinks he saw the Roseate spoonbill, but not sure. (He was traveling the legal limit around a curve at the time.)

At home people started to arrive. (Let the ‘hectic’ begin.)

The kids from Missouri arrived first and stayed the longest. Of course, they had to eat, so Putz started the grill and cooked (in the pouring rain) a little chicken (they had corn on the cob with it, which was cooked inside by Mrs. P.).

The next night, their oldest daughter, who lives in Grafton, had Putzer’s friend and his wife over for supper. Everyone was invited and they had chicken,

again — barbequed this time — with no corn on the cob.

Later that week, Putz’s cousins came to call for supper at P’s house, along with everyone else. Still later, Mrs. P had to have some tooth work done and there was a funeral to go to, so you see why things were getting a little bit hectic.

Then the neighbor, up north, texted that ‘the boys’ who were to cut the trees arrived, so P’s oldest daughter went up to see that it was done correctly. (She reported back that everything was just fine.)

Both Ps went up a few days after the trees were down. She was right, everything was just fine. (And Mr. P didn’t have to do it or pay for it. What a way to go!)

See you on the river. Keep a good thought!

Editor’s note: Jerry enjoys all aspects of the outdoors and shares them in many ways through his photos, words, and workshops. He has written two books, “Tales of The Peshtigo Putzer,” and “Photos, Poems, and a Little Bit of Prose.” Both make great additions to your outdoor library, and/or great gifts. They are available for purchase at Orange Hat Publishing, Amazon, and his website: www.jerrykiesowoc.com. Be sure to check his site out often to follow his updates and endeavors — which he does not always tell you about.