I went to take a look at a large willow tree for one of my homeowner's associations after it lost a large branch in last nights thunder storm. It lost a quarter of the tree. I climbed up the broken branch/spar into the main crotch to inspect the branches that remain. While I was sitting there two neighbor kids that I had met earlier working for their mom climbed up too(it was safe so I did not object). The eldest is in the 8th grade and his brother is a couple years younger. I chatted with the kids about trees for 20 minutes or so. They were very bright kids. Well later after my bid to remove the tree was OKed, I got this email from the older brother:
"Dear Daren,
We were wondering as to the possibility of saving Our Lakewood willow tree by the pond. Because of our conversation in the tree and conflicting 2nd hand information from the Mahacheks, we have a few questions to ask you about the possibility of safely keeping the tree alive. We had some ideas of how to extend the life of the tree. First of all, we were wondering if we could build a structure over the trunk in order to protect the trunk from the elements and thus slow or stop the rotting process. Also, we wonder if we could possibly shorten/ balance the branches and thus minimize the amount of outward stress put on the trunk.
Carl"
I called him back and explained all my reasoning for giving the thumbs down on this tree. He was thoughtful, polite and asked good questions.