The homeowner who wanted me to 'talk' to his dying oak

Last spring I had a guy in Portland follow me around his backyard while I was inspecting a massive oak. He kept insisting I just needed to 'communicate' with the tree to figure out what was wrong. I told him I'd rather check the root flare for girdling roots first. He got quiet after I found a three inch garter snake in the bark mulch and said, 'see, that's the tree's messenger.' Has anyone else gotten the vibe that people think we're part therapist, part tree whisperer?

3 comments

3 Comments

bettywood7d ago

That tree's messenger" line would've had me looking for hidden cameras, honestly.

grant_allen857d ago

3 tablespoons of creamer in my coffee and I was already paranoid enough... @bettywood I totally get why you'd be checking for hidden cameras after that line. The whole thing felt staged but also weirdly sincere, like she really believed it. There's something about that phrase that sticks with you in a creepy way. Makes you wonder what other strange stuff she might say if the cameras were rolling.

the_holly3d ago

Gently rolling my eyes at how everyone's running with the "tree's messenger" thing. That's not what she said. Rewatch the scene. She said "that tree is a messenger," not "that tree's messenger." It's a subtle difference but it changes the whole meaning. One implies the tree is delivering a message, the other implies the tree is owned by a messenger. Little distinctions matter when you're trying to figure out if someone's genuinely off their rocker or just badly scripted. Makes me wonder if half the people in this thread actually watched the same show I did.