Cedar creatures

TownHall.com ^ | Friday, August 15, 2003 | by John McCaslin

[JohnHuang2]

Early this week, we wrote that President Bush was spending part of his vacation "clearing cedar" on his Texas ranch, only to have several readers write to ask what clearing cedar actually means.

"Growing up in central Texas made me very familiar with the cedar trees so common and yet hated by ranchers," wrote Ronald Best, who abandoned the cedar canopy of Texas for Lakewood, Colo. "To hear that our president personally cares about his land to pitch in and clear these pesky junipers himself says a lot about why President Bush is beloved by so many Texans."

How are the cedars usually cleared?

"When I was a child, itinerant 'cedar choppers' moved from ranch to ranch, clearing and burning cedar trees," says Best. "My father once warned us about these mysterious people and when my sister and I misbehaved, (he) would tell us we could be given away to these mysterious people."

HUMBLE ARI

The dog days of August have crept into political pollster Frank Luntz's usually busy office - or so we gather from his latest poll, "Ari, We Thought We Knew Thee."

[JohnHuang2]

Friday, August 15, 2003

Quote of the Day by nhoward14

[Sacajaweau]

My daughter and her hubby have 100 acres in the Southern Tier in NY. My daughter decided the brambles were messy and has been pulling them. Her husband walked by as she was doing her thing. "Whatcha doing?" he said. "Weeding", she said. "Weeding the forest?", he said with a smile as he passed.

[Flyer]

these pesky junipers

Pesky maybe, but they make fence posts that will last 100 years.

[Sacajaweau]

We've been finding original cedar fence posts which surrounded an old cemetery - 160 years old and in good shape. But there was always repair work because the animals were knocking them down.

Found some cedar "survey corner posts" in Virginia, nicely notched with the cardinal points.

[Ben Ficklin]

Nowdays, even the cedar choppers have web sites

[Ben Ficklin]

Mountain Cedar is juniperus ashei and grows in TX, NM, OK, & AR; but mainly the Texas Hill Country.

[Feckless]

"Cedar Whackers" or "Cedar Beaters" are just Central Texas' version of New Jersey's "Pineys" and the Northwest's grungy white trash rednecks. Every place has some version of them.

Unlike the cedar trees (and bushes) that are their namesake, the cedar beaters' family tree has branches that are few and far between.

[Feckless]

Eleven...you're showing your age...........