Blessings from my little corner of the world. If you're outside I hope you find a shade tree. :-)
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Great-Grandfather Pepper lived 90 years. He was a wise and wonderful old tree. The week Grandfather Pepper died was a sad week. He fought hard for his life. It took seven days and three men with powerful equipment to destroy him.
Monday the men attacked him with chain saws. They began dismembering his beautiful branches. Tuesday they returned with their noisy machines. Wednesday it rained. The men stopped cutting and loaded branches into their trucks. Grandfather Pepper was still alive.
Thursday afternoon the men returned and by Thursday evening Grandfather Pepper was reduced to a mere tree trunk. He was once a majestic mountain of a pepper tree, now disfigured beyond recognition.
Friday they sawed and axed. They drilled holes and poisoned his stump. They poured gasoline down him and lit him on fire. Grandfather Pepper was a strong old tree. He was a fighter. He broke their chain saws and survived the poison and fire. He was barely alive when the men arrived Saturday morning.
They drove a back hoe and crashed into Grandfather Pepper until he was uprooted. His roots were as breathtaking as his branches. As big as the back yard, his heart was exposed and above ground.
Sunday morning the men tried to cut up Grandfather Pepper's roots. With his last breath once again he broke their equipment. A flatbed tow truck lifted what was left of the grand ole pepper tree and took his remains to the dump.
Grandfather Pepper is missed by his many friends. In spring the squirrels played tag on his branches. Grandfather Pepper enjoyed and welcomed visitors.
A variety of birds lived with Grandfather Pepper. He loved his feather friends. All shapes and sizes, birds came from far away to nest in the best tree around. In stormy weather he sheltered his friends and kept them safe.
Along with the squirrels and birds, butterflies, bugs and cats, Grandfather Pepper had other friends. Through the years many dogs loved him too.They'd bury their bones near him and he kept their secret. On a hot August day dogs relaxed in the shade of their friend, the grand ole pepper tree.
Grandfather Pepper had good friends and good memories. He adored the neighborhood children.He had fun when they played hide-and-seek and he was base. He was honored to support their swings and their tree house.Watching over the children kept him young.
Great-Grandfather Pepper was a very special pepper tree.He loved everyone and everyone loved him. Well, almost everyone.
