The Effects of Inaction

     This weekend I had some time to reflect as I was preparing for an auction at our acreage. I went out early Saturday morning in order to clear a spot for the Auctioneers trailer. The initial goal of the morning was to clean up the remnants of a tree that we had cut down last year. Last spring to be exact. We had a couple of dead trees that were infringing on the neighbours yard and threatening to destroy their chain link fence. Because of the location of the trees and the hazards that were involved we decided it would be easier to hire someone to take the trees down. While they were there, we also had them take down another tree that was close to the house and causing some issues with the eaves trough. After the crew that cut them down had left I started limbing and cutting these trees. I had most of them cut up within a few days. The one that was by the house actually was two intertwined with each other. This made for some tricky limbing and cutting as the pressure from the weight of the top tree would either cause the branches to snap back or the saw to get pinched as the weight shifted. With about two thirds of these large evergreens cut down and just about twenty feet of the top left, the removal of the refuge seemed to drop in priority. 
     A year later, the work was still required to be done but now had a higher priority as they lay in the way of the optimal spot for parking this trailer. As I moved the branches in to a pile in the treeline, I started to think lots about what was actually going on. There are lots of life lessons about doing something at the time being faster than putting it off. This wasn't that. The branches themselves were dry and lighter than when the tree was first cut making them easier to move. Most of the needles had also fallen off of the branches over the winter aiding in making the branches lighter. As I reached the branches that were at the bottom I started to notice something and my train of thought change directions. The needles that had fallen of had formed a sort of barrier where they lay. This barrier was thick enough to block out any sun from reaching the earth thus giving life to the plants below. In this case mostly grass. 

     Due to the fact that I had not taken the action required to finish this task the grass that had been in this spot for over thirty years was now completely dead where the tree once lay. With a fine rake I made sure that the barrier of needles was removed. Will the grass come back? I have no doubts that it will. I assume that by the end of summer, weather permitting, this area will be green and full of life again. 

Lesson: Changing the priority of a task doesn't necessarily mean that it won't get done or will be harder when you do end up doing it. Depending on the task however, this delay may have some affect on the environment around you.