The Curse of the Quaking Aspen

Having loved the mountains all my life, I found there was only one other thing that could have a similar effect on me, and that was the sound of water.

There were multiple ways of imagining the sound of water.

That's what you do when you grow up on a dry farm in desert country.

Massive poplar trees with their leaves in summer were a substitute. When I was young and had never heard the ocean, I decided that ocean waves had to sound something like that. It's not an adequate way to hear the tide, but it works when you are in high plains desert, where trees grow if you water them.

Although the real thing is much louder and more inspiring, the sound of wind blowing through those poplars still works, if I shut my eyes. The sight of green wheat--just weeks away from beginning to turn golden--gives a visual image. These were things that satisfied my yearning, until I saw the real thing.

Quaking Aspen were something else entirely, their sound was more like the drizzle of a spring rain or the song of a mountain stream. I loved haring the sound too, so when we moved into our new house, I had to have several small groves in the front, side and back. Poplars were out of the question. They have too many leaves that turn orange and gold and yellow. Yea, they have a great sound in summer, but raking leaves does not offset the silver lining I loved to hear.

I loved the "quakies," until I began having trouble with my sprinklers. It began simply, a $100 or a bit more repair each spring, but when I was sick in '03, it was a time when we didn't have a lot of money.

The bill that year for sprinkler repair was $400. Those doing the repair said that the next year's news would be two or three times as bad. The common root system of the trees in the three different small groves became a web beneath the ground, wrapping and constricting the water pipes. Pipes burst; sprinkler heads shattered. Entire sections had to have major repair. It was not a difficult decision.

I miss the trees, but I don't regret having to have someone remove them. The removal was $750, which is much cheaper than replacement of the entire sprinkler system the next year.

These photographs are what happened just after the removal and work in the yard to cover up stumps and other odds and ends.

Besides, the trees are much finer to see in their natural surroundings with songbirds and the scent of wildflowers.