Keeping a SOUND ROOF

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Run two of the ropes out from either side of the tree; stake the loose ends securely or else tie them to the bumper of a truck or tractor or to a drawbar behind a horse. These lines steady the tree as you pull it off the house. Tie the end of the third rope to the bumper of a truck, tractor or behind a team of oxen or draft horses and pull forward slowly ...till the tree eases upward on its own and its roots settle back into their pit. Tie the three ropes to stakes sunk in a half-circle around the tree and leave them on for at least a year, till the tree regrows its feed er roots. Soak the root mass and keep it watered (with at least 1" of water a week), as you would any newly planted tree. Fertilize sparingly with compost tea or a diluted general-purpose tree food dissolved in water.

To compensate for lost roots, trim off at least a third - and preferably a full half - of your tree's limbs and greenery. It will droop and shed all or most of its leaves and may appear dead. Keep watering it and be ready to fend off an occasional insect attack. As you know from gardening, bugs are attracted to weakened plants. The tree may show new growth at a few twig ends almost immediately, or it may not try to leaf out till the following spring. Or it may not leaf out at all and will need to be removed. But at least you tried. Easily transplanted trees such as willows have the best survival rates. Deep-rooted, hard to transplant varieties such as taprooted nut trees are most liable to succumb to a blow down.

If a blown-down tree is too severely damaged, its limbs too deeply imbedded in the roof, or it's just too large to try and replant, it must be removed by people who know how to do it while inflicting the least added damage to your house. Your best bet is a team of professional arborists. A crew of lithe young daredevils will arrive adorned with tree-climbing ropes and harnesses, cleated boots with climbing spikes, hard hats, chain saws and one or more ten-ton telescoping-arm cranes. They will dissect the tree into manageable pieces and haul it off or, if you ask, leave you with a yard full of compostable leaves and twigs, a cord or more of green firewood - and a massive bill. (Tree work is among the most hazardous of professions and the company must pay high wages and even higher liability and medical insurance rates.)

TRACING THE LEAK

You are lucky if a leak reveals itself by dripping audibly. All too many leaks sneak down through the house undiscovered ...till you notice a bulge in the ceiling with an ominous little dark stain . . . or a dead-gray-colored mold darkening the wallpaper paste on the back of a patch of peeling paper ...or an evil dark stain slowly drooling down the wall covering that conceals the brick of your outside flue. You really can't locate the source of a leak from outside the house. And you really can't repair one from inside. What to do?

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