Briseuse de Coeur, heavy cutting in a rush with a chip on my shoulder

[BillsBayou]

Last May, I posted a video (link at bottom) where I converted a large dead area of a bald cypress I've named "Heartbreaker" (French name in title) into a deadwood feature. [Here is my deadwood styling from last May](https://i.imgur.com/urmghFy.jpg) I didn't work on the branches because the deadwood work was extensive. Last night, I worked on the branches and applied lime sulfur to the deadwood.

Tuesday night is the annual GNOBS "Silhouette Show" where we show off our deciduous trees in their naked glory. I want to bring in this specific tree, but it is all wild and wooly. Since my weekends are not my own, I had Sunday night after 7pm to work on the tree. I set out to video my work with a huge chip on my shoulder. It took me an hour to set up the video and sound, lay out all my supplies, and then it started raining. Time to rush.

Two hours later, I wasn't happy with the lime sulfur work, but I got everything done.

Don't style angry.

This is the before and after of last night's work. I'll entertain any questions you may have.


The video of last night's work is in the can and awaiting editing. In the meanwhile, this is

 

[sorce]

I set out to video my work with a huge chip on my shoulder.

Explain?

Sorce

 

[sorce]

Maybe too before you finish typing....

Are you not happy with the outcome?

Sorce

 

[BillsBayou]

Maybe too before you finish typing....

Are you not happy with the outcome?

Sorce

The chip on my shoulder comes from the amount of time my family asks of me for things where I'm not really needed. I like to promote courteous, efficient, self-service. Saturday was sunny and cool and a perfect day for bonsai video work. For lighting issues (the sun makes hard shadows) I set up a tent. Cinderblocks were bolted to the legs of the tent to give me another 18-inches of clearance. Halogen work lights were set up to even out the lighting under the tent. I've got all my equipment for working on the tree and all the equipment for shooting the video. That's when the request for running errands hit. Then running one daughter to the mall. Then fetching another daughter from her job downtown. Then "Can we stop and Don Jose's for dinner?" Then Saturday died. Sunday was a pre-planned trip to the other side of Lake Ponchartrain for a dance competition. We HAD to be there for 11am. My daughter's team did not perform their first routine until 3PM! It was pushing 7pm last night when we got home. I did some shuffling to get all my equipment out of the house and to the back yard where my tent... had fallen off the cinderblocks and bent the mounts on the legs. Not serious damage, but needed to be addressed. And it was starting to rain a fine cold mist. Filming began at 8:05pm.

BIG CHIP ON MY SHOULDER

Since I get up at 5:30 on weekdays (to fix breakfast for the family, because I love them so very very much...) I didn't want to be up late working on the tree, but the deadwood HAD to be painted with lime sulfur. I painted outside the lines, so some areas of bark have white on them. I would have liked to spend an hour just cleaning out the inner hollow of the tree of moss and rotted detritus with added time to explore all of the actual dead lines of some of the roots. It is an incomplete job that needed more time than was allotted to me.

So.... I mentioned in the video that I will be taking the tree to the bonsai club meeting for critique and discussion with a couple of people whose opinions I respect very highly. I'll take that advice into account and shoot a second video this weekend where I do not have anything pre-planned by anyone in the family (which means they'll only eat up one of the days, but not both).

Hey... you asked.

 

[BillsBayou]

Aw hell. In my initial post to the thread, I failed to mention that branch wrapped in white. It's a potential source branch for a thread graft on the trunk. I'll be discussing this with club members on Tuesday. I'll either punch a hole in the trunk where I think a branch MIGHT be needed, or I'll be cutting it back to fit the styling of the tree.

To camouflage it's appearance, I wrapped it with white Vet Wrap, a 3M product. Sometimes I use Vet Wrap in lieu of raffia.

 

[sorce]

Hey... you asked

I did! I know a lot of people might not understand that....but I get you...
Cuz its not the family that takes the time...

Its the society the family operates in.

I love Spanish Speaking people.
My wife is Cuban.

Sitting thru 2 speakings (English/Spanish) of shit at school is wasting everyones Fucking time. Or we are getting half the information as before. (Attention span limits)

I'll God Damn learn Spanish before I LOVE wasting that time!

Not leaving a late night game for a 30 minute talk after a win....with another game tomorrow anyway....

Let us go the Fuck home!

.....

Anyway....
I don't know if it's the KKK symbolism in the deadwood, or the zig zag branches...

But this is an angry tree!

So...I love it!

Style this one Angry!

Sorce

 

[BillsBayou]

[deleted]

 

[BillsBayou]

DAMMIT! MY TREE IS NOT A MEMBER OF THE DAMNED KKK!

It's just the shape of the deadwood of the tree. Honest. Not the klan. Shit. Why can't it look like a ghost?

"Briseuse de Coeur" is the name. It's French for "Heart Breaker".

Now I've got racist bonsai? No.

Well, blame the tree.

Maybe the tree is mad that it's taken me 22 years to actually do something constructive towards putting it in a show. "I'll show him! Dig me up and let half of me die? Sumbitch gonna regret that shit. Want to paint my dead parts white? Yeah. Go ahead. Just you wait."

 

[cbroad]

Hahaha @BillsBayou I love your attitude, videos, and especially your trees!!! I love your content and how you don't take yourself that seriously, and how you keep your narration to the point but also find time for humor!

Thank you, keep it up!

 

[BillsBayou]

Hahaha @BillsBayou I love your attitude, videos, and especially your trees!!! I love your content and how you don't take yourself that seriously, and how you keep your narration to the point but also find time for humor!

Thank you, keep it up!

You're welcome. You should see me at Black Friday sales. I'm literally laughing out loud at people who are bitching about being at a Black Friday sale. Stress will kill you if you can't find the joke. There's ALWAYS a joke.

I hope to let my work and actions speak for me, rather than me speaking for my work and actions. More should do this.

As for finding time for humor... well...

My grandfather died a few years back. He was Bill Junior, my father was Bill the third, I'm Bill the fourth. I was paying respect at Paw Paw Bill's coffin the night before the funeral when my mother, aunt, and wife all started talking about the similarities between the three Bills. I started telling stories and jokes about the three Bills. I had the family laughing quite loud when my mother stopped and asked with an incredulous laugh in her voice "Are you doing a comedy routine at your grandfather's wake?" Which drew even more laughs.

 

[cbroad]

Laughter can be really grounding, it can help us slow down and realize the huge cosmic joke we're all living in! It can teach us to not take everything so seriously and to unburden ourselves from daily stress. If you can't laugh at yourself and the irony of our monotonous lives, then we're all doomed...

 

[sorce]

Now I've got racist bonsai? No

No no...but all that stuff Cbroad says is why I didn't hold back the thought.

Cuz I know you can process it.

I think anyone familiar with the sheets will feel it inside, but not identify it.

We want people to feel these things without knowing why.

Forgive me for exposing one of your secrets that wasn't even a secret or meant to be on the first place!

PM me the deleted thoughts!
Ive probly deleted much worse!

Sorce

 

[BillsBayou]

The deleted thoughts were the same message, but I had it filled with humorous unicode emojis to match the lines. For example, a green tree plus a ghost equals a broken heart.

My sheets are blue, on the bed, and only get swapped out on laundry day.

Vaughn Banting made a comment about his black pines subconsciously revealing something about his political views: