By: Robert Fogg It was Friday afternoon, June 30th, the beginning of “July 4th Weekend”, and our crews had just signed out and left for the week, when the first call came in.  A lightning strike at a residence in Point Sebago had left a large pine tree in splinters and lying on top of an automobile.  Aaron, one of our 3 job estimators/crew supervisors immediately called in three of our crew leaders (Tommy, Darren & Nicholas) to remedy the situation.  At that point, we had no idea of the scope of things to come. First thing Saturday morning my…

A few people I know have been pining for me to include some tree humor in my monthly blog post. They’ve been barking at me about this since last Septimber.  They just kept needling me about it, so I decided that I wood go out on a limb and take a slab at it.  But, as soon as I logged on to the computer at my branch office, I immediately contracted a case of chopping block.  I was completely stumped.  So, I cracked open a root beer and waited for inspiration that never came.  I felt like such a sap. …

It’s late fall and a squirrel rummages around in the top of an oak tree, pulling acorns off and sending them hurtling to earth. That same squirrel later gathers the acorns for his winter stash,  ..except for the one he missed as it rolled under a rock. The acorn hides under the rock through the fall and winter, unnoticed by all the woodland creatures. Come spring, it thaws out and gets soaked with moisture from the melting snow and spring rains. At some point in May it cracks open and takes root forming a tiny trunk and one tiny leaf. …

Like people, trees have a limited life-span, but many factors can play into the age they actually live to. Gray birch, Hornbeam and Striped Maple, for example are short-lived trees. They may live 30 years at the most. Redwood, Cypress and Sequoia trees, on the other hand, may live for thousands of years. Here in Maine, the average lifespan of the average tree would probably be about 100 to 120 years, although I have seen some rare cases of up to 400 years of age, which takes us back to the days of the Pilgrims (if only those trees could…