gall damn

 I have a t ree problem

This has not been a good year for my trees.

A deer took out my ginko and my American Beech is slowly dieing.  Every year another branch seems to die.  I asked someone who to do because the main branch is dead.  He said to tape another branch to the main and eventually the other branch will become the lead.

But there is no other branch.

A digression.

    Know what this is?

    I will tell you at the end.  Back to the trees.

    I have a bur oak tree in the back of the yard.  It has been there for about 8 or 9 years.

    These are native to Illinois.  They grow to huge sizes and can live hundreds of years.  I planted one at our Skare Court house and it was about 20 years old when we moved.  I love these trees, but am afraid they are slowly disappearing from our landscapes.

    Here's my problem.   Leaves on whole branches are turning brown.  The branch is still flexible, but the leaves are dead.  Some of the leaves have little holes in them.....and there are galls on the tree.  A lot of galls.

    I am going to contact the U of I tree clinic on Monday, but this is quite disturbing.  I don't want to lose this tree!

    If the galls are a problem, then I need to treat the tree, but I really don't know what to do.

    And my final digression.

    As you know, I like to play solitaire on line .  I had this today.

    It was just strange to have three spades lacking aces.  

    And yes, I did win.

    Now, back to the picture at the top.

    This came out of Johanna's house,.  No one seemed to know what it was.  The wire rack slides and there are 2 screws or nails sticking up from the bottom.

    There is a patent number on the bottom, so I Googled it and discovered.........it's a potato slicer!  Slide the cage over, impale the potato on the 2 spikes, slide the cage back and slice the potato with a knife.  Each slice will be the same thickness.

    What did we do before Google?

    I need a life.

Peace and Love