Original article on the damage
From Catherine, July 31, 2023- “Johnny and Cookie Davis, and Tommy Hicks, a farm truck and a tractor, and a large crew of many other parishioners and neighbors were able to clear the back of the church of the debris from the crown of the tree that had broken off and ended up in the driveway behind the church. Thanks to all of you who helped with this project.”
Most of the work involved a four-part process:
- Gathering.
Parishioners gathered loose branches and piled them up. We had several piles going at a time. This was a task everyone could help with.
- Cutting
Johnny Davis and Larry Saylor brought chain saws to help this process as well as cut debris too large for the truck.
- The tractor came by to grab the gathered portions of the cleared portions and pieces of the wood. It was an amazing piece of machinery that could handle logs and branches with leaves and anything else it could trap.
- The tractor gatherings would be taken to the truck which then would be dumped. To get all of it in, chain saws were used to cut the wood.
During the day, there were obstacles that had to be overcome. The main one was what to do with the main section which was in the shape of a tripod. They tried to move it using straps but they broke. The solution was to cut individual pieces using the chain saw
It wasn’t all work. There were benefits to the day. It was a day the parish could bind together in a common task with additional help from the community. Off and on we had more than 30 people of all ages. This was good hospitality outside of the Sunday services that involved all ages. Luckily the heat was much lower than the previous week!
One benefit was noticing a bumper crop of pears in the tree beside the parish house. The youth gathered them and put them in a bowl. What a blessing from nature gives amidst the cleanup of what nature took away. This tree may have ome from the time of Rev. Sigismund Stribling Ware (“Sig”) when he preached at St. Peter’s from 1888 to 1918. His wife planted fruit trees at the church. This may be the only one left.
We had one of two estimates for the remaining tree. The contractor felt like the tree would revive with trimming of the damaged portions. The best news!
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