After learning of the tree's demise there was a reaction and very special story sent to me from my nephew. He has given me permission to share this.
.....................................
"Wow. I'm really actually upset now that that tree is gone.
As a plant geek, I understand why, but sometimes you have funny little
sentimental attatchments to things such as trees. I remember (vaguely) the
whole family lining up for that famous photograph. I remember once, going
up on the roof of the cabin with Dad to spray the tree for Cooley's Spruce
Gall Aphid. The tree was short enough back then, that Dad was able to spray
the top half of it from the roof.
I remember one time, I brought my go-cart from NJ up to Dad's. There was a
governor on the motor that kept the go-cart from going too fast. At such a
young age, I drove that dang cart right up to its capabilities, and that
governor was holding me back so Dad and I rigged a string that would bypass
the governor. I remember spending a whole day, racing from the cabin
driveway, across the spillway, up to the corner and around the grass
triangle and back with a friend. We were timing the runs to see who was
faster. Well..... I was on my way to making the fastest run of the day.
There I came, screaming across the spillway, sideways around the corner in
front of my uncle's, whose place was next to the cabin, like a mini stock car racer, and I straightened out heading for the "finish line" in front of the cabin.
Right as I had straightened out and headed for the final straight dash to
the finish line.... to my shock, the front left wheel broke the axle, and on
three wheels I drove past the rolling tire across the finish line. I
watched the wheel roll into that Spruce tree. My friend and I spent about a
half hour searching for that wheel. We both saw it roll into that Spruce
tree. We looked, and it was not under the tree. We figured it rolled under
the tree and out the other side, so we searched the flower beds across the
front of the cabin and around the porch area. We searched even harder down
the side of the cabin that faces my uncle's. Still we couldn't find it.
We went back and searched the tree again, and there was NO tire!!! Even
though we both saw it roll in there!
We finally gave up, puzzled, and went and got Dad, and explained what
happened to him. He searched as well. He searched the same places that we
did. He went back to the tree and after a little more looking, he suddenly
burst out laughing. Apparently, there was a branch that came off the trunk
about six feet off the ground, and arched gracefully down to the ground.
The tire hit that branch at about 40 mph, and rolled UP the branch, and
wedged itself between that branch and the one above it, up against the
trunk. We never saw it because we never thought to look UP!
I thought you'd get a kick out of the story. :)
It's one of my favorite stories ever...."
Note: My nephew is now age 36. He's the little dark haired boy sitting in the front row of the family photo shown in the blog, The Tree - Part 1.
He also commented that Spruce spider mites are almost impossible to get rid of.... To treat that tree would have been extremely expensive if it even would have worked in the first place.
