Roots
The last few weeks I have been working on our old steel storage shed. The expected life of those sheds was less than 20 years, but ours had lasted closer to 30 already. This was mostly because I always went outside during snowstorms and raked off the snow, plus keeping it painted and tarring the roof.
At long last, however, the roof rusted through in a couple of places and water began damaging what we had stored inside. I bought some steel roofing and 1x3 furring strips, and put a new steel roof on over the old. While doing that, I had to remove a tree growing on the west side. The tree had sprouted some years previously in dirt and moss that had gradually covered the concrete slab. Thinking it would soon die, I left the seedling alone and forgot about it. It was now higher than the shed! After cutting it off, I noticed the roots had run along underneath the 2x6 treated lumber the shed sat on, and raised the side up over an inch!
Yesterday I pried up the edge of the shed with a pry bar and crowbar, and hammered wooden wedges underneath to hold it up. Then I tried pulling out the roots. It turned out to be much more difficult than I thought. They had spread over 6 feet in both directions to the edges of the concrete slab and down into the ground. I had to first cut them off. Then I found they had run inside the shed, into the rotten plywood on the floor, and wound around the nails holding the shed down. After a lot of cutting and prying, I managed to get most of the roots torn out and into the trash. Then I raked and swept out the dirt, shoveled it up and put it in the trash, let the shed back down, and hammered it back into place with a big cast iron post maul.
I find it is fascinating how quickly that little seedling grew up and spread its roots far and wide.
Except for the fact that we aren't permanently rooted to one spot, us humans are very like trees. We start out small, with a shallow root system that makes us fragile but also makes it easy for us to pull up our roots and move. Young people are almost always the ones who move on to greener pastures, especially when things get tough.
But usually as we get older our roots get thicker and stronger and spread out farther. We become part of the “forest”, our roots intertwining with those of our family, friends, and neighbors to strengthen the whole community. It becomes more and more difficult to just rip up those roots and move elsewhere. So we develop more of an interest in keeping our existing communities strong and prosperous, finding a part we can play in so doing. Older people are much less likely to move often, but often suffer the consequences of being rooted down to an area that is failing economically and socially. But the community as a whole benefits from a stable population where most play a part in keeping things up and running.
Then when we get old some of the surrounding trees start falling away, leaving the remaining ones with less support. Our growth slows and our health fails. Younger trees start to encroach on our space and change the familiar shape of the forest. Eventually we die and fall, often taking others with us, both old and young. But soon the young fill the space we left and we are forgotten.
At least that was the way of the world in older times. Today the automobile and electronic communications have destroyed community. We can build a virtual community of people we never have met and know little about, except that they agree with us on issues important to us. We no longer have to learn to live with those who think differently than us, or hold different values. We can just “unfriend” them and close them out of our community. We are no longer tied to a physical “place”, but can rip up our roots and move anywhere, anytime. As a result, we no longer can build strong and spreading roots, intertwined with those of others to support the whole forest. When rough times come, we are really on our own. As a result, our country is getting lonelier and weaker, more prone to falling apart. We live withing our own bubbles, blind to anything or anyone outside except for the occasional annoying interruption when someone breaks through and confronts us.
Well, the shed is repaired and just needs shoring up inside to support the heavier roof along with the snow load. It will probably last another 20 years – more time than I am likely to last!
At long last, however, the roof rusted through in a couple of places and water began damaging what we had stored inside. I bought some steel roofing and 1x3 furring strips, and put a new steel roof on over the old. While doing that, I had to remove a tree growing on the west side. The tree had sprouted some years previously in dirt and moss that had gradually covered the concrete slab. Thinking it would soon die, I left the seedling alone and forgot about it. It was now higher than the shed! After cutting it off, I noticed the roots had run along underneath the 2x6 treated lumber the shed sat on, and raised the side up over an inch!
Yesterday I pried up the edge of the shed with a pry bar and crowbar, and hammered wooden wedges underneath to hold it up. Then I tried pulling out the roots. It turned out to be much more difficult than I thought. They had spread over 6 feet in both directions to the edges of the concrete slab and down into the ground. I had to first cut them off. Then I found they had run inside the shed, into the rotten plywood on the floor, and wound around the nails holding the shed down. After a lot of cutting and prying, I managed to get most of the roots torn out and into the trash. Then I raked and swept out the dirt, shoveled it up and put it in the trash, let the shed back down, and hammered it back into place with a big cast iron post maul.
I find it is fascinating how quickly that little seedling grew up and spread its roots far and wide.
Except for the fact that we aren't permanently rooted to one spot, us humans are very like trees. We start out small, with a shallow root system that makes us fragile but also makes it easy for us to pull up our roots and move. Young people are almost always the ones who move on to greener pastures, especially when things get tough.
But usually as we get older our roots get thicker and stronger and spread out farther. We become part of the “forest”, our roots intertwining with those of our family, friends, and neighbors to strengthen the whole community. It becomes more and more difficult to just rip up those roots and move elsewhere. So we develop more of an interest in keeping our existing communities strong and prosperous, finding a part we can play in so doing. Older people are much less likely to move often, but often suffer the consequences of being rooted down to an area that is failing economically and socially. But the community as a whole benefits from a stable population where most play a part in keeping things up and running.
Then when we get old some of the surrounding trees start falling away, leaving the remaining ones with less support. Our growth slows and our health fails. Younger trees start to encroach on our space and change the familiar shape of the forest. Eventually we die and fall, often taking others with us, both old and young. But soon the young fill the space we left and we are forgotten.
At least that was the way of the world in older times. Today the automobile and electronic communications have destroyed community. We can build a virtual community of people we never have met and know little about, except that they agree with us on issues important to us. We no longer have to learn to live with those who think differently than us, or hold different values. We can just “unfriend” them and close them out of our community. We are no longer tied to a physical “place”, but can rip up our roots and move anywhere, anytime. As a result, we no longer can build strong and spreading roots, intertwined with those of others to support the whole forest. When rough times come, we are really on our own. As a result, our country is getting lonelier and weaker, more prone to falling apart. We live withing our own bubbles, blind to anything or anyone outside except for the occasional annoying interruption when someone breaks through and confronts us.
Well, the shed is repaired and just needs shoring up inside to support the heavier roof along with the snow load. It will probably last another 20 years – more time than I am likely to last!
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