[Magdalen] Fwd: Tree Legacy.

[James Oppenheimer-Crawford]

When I was born, my family decided to get a house, and we moved into the
first home I remember, a good-sized, non-remarkable house in a somewhat
older neighborhood.

As time marched on, and Dad moved up in management in the steel mill, we
decided it was time to get a modern house, and he teamed up with a good
friend who was also an architect, and we designed and built a house on land
this architect had been saving for friends to build houses on.
It was a beautiful split level with a carport for two cars and main
entrance at the upper level, and a nice patio off a family room at the
lower level in back. The lot had several huge trees that had been saved
from when it was forest, and it was surrounded by forest.
Dad enjoyed a very slow, gentle project of clearing scrub brush and small
trees from the forest immediately around the lot, but not touching anything
larger, and we got from that more than enough wood for our fireplaces. We
first went after fallen timber with cross cut saws, cutting them to length
and making piles.  we came back after a year or so to split these into
usable pieces for the fireplaces.
Although there was a lot of forest around, we seldom saw deer, probably
because during hunting season, any deer were taken, such that their numbers
were low, and they stayed away from all human activity. We saw less than
half a dozen all the time we lived there. However, birds and squirrels were
prolific, and we enjoyed the quiet.
Years later, a friend told me that they still enjoyed walking in the woods
on the trails my Dad had originally made.
In time, I moved away, and Mom and Dad began spending more time in Florida.
The house was robbed during one time when they were away, and after a
couple more years they decided to sell it.
Someone bought it as an investment, but then it passed to someone else.
My brother and I were back in town for other events, and we decided to
drive around and visit houses we had known. After several neat adventures,
we came to the entrance to this house, for the first time in decades.  We
didn't know the people, but on impulse Larry drove into the driveway.  We
saw from the driveway one or two slight alterations, and were just sitting
there when the owner came out.  We introduced ourselves, and it turned out
that he was delighted to meet us.  He loved the house, and was thrilled to
meet some of the family of the people who built it.
In the lower level, we found the work bench Dad had built by hand was still
there (and still had a couple of the tolls Dad had acquired for it. "Dad
never did take the price tags off," said Larry with a grin.)
The owner had a small album of pictures that we apparently left when we
sold the house: several shots showing the digging of the septic tanks, a
couple pictures of me with the girl next door, etc.
The owner was homesick for New York, but he also loved the house so much he
hated leaving it.  That was a few years ago, and I suspect someone else is
there now...

James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
*“If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better
for people coming behind you, and you don’t do it, you're wasting your time
on this Earth.”  -- *Roberto Clemente

On Wed, Feb 25, 2015 at 11:22 PM, Cantor03--- via Magdalen <
magdalen at herberthouse.org> wrote:

>
>
>
>
> ____________________________________
>  From: Cantor03 at aol.com
> To: cantor03 at aol.com
> Sent: 2/25/2015 11:21:52  P.M. Eastern Standard Time
> Subj: Tree Legacy.
>
>
>
> Forty and more years ago, I owned a "wild 80" (acres) in
> Chippewa County Wisconsin, about 30 miles from my home in
> Eau Claire.
>
> All except perhaps five acres that bordered a state-trunk highway
> were wooded with mature, 80' Eastern White Pines (Pinus strobus)
> and Norway/Red Pines (Pinus resinosa)
>
> I reforested those front five acres with some Norway Pine seedlings
> plus two exotic species - Scots Pines (Pinus sylvestris) and  Japanese
> Larch (Larix kaemferi).
>
> This property was sold in 1984 because of my divorce, and I haven't
> seen much of it since.
>
> It is fascinating what you find on line these days, and there is an
> aerial view map of that region including the wild 80 online.  It  looks
> as though some of my plantings have been removed because there
> is now a good-sized home on the property.  I suspect, though,  that
> some of my planted trees have survived.
>
> I found out who the present owners are via the Chippewa County
> Register of Deeds, and I have made snail-mail contact with them to
> see if they might fill me in on the present trees surviving on this
> property. (They have no listed phones).
>
> They may OTOH, just consider my request as a crank letter and
> forget the whole matter.
>
> We shall see.
>
> More anon.
>
>
> David Strang.
>
>